Ouroboros: Shippuuden
by maneyan
Summary: Embedded in the most dangerous organisation of missing-nins in the world, Orochmaru's old apprentice walks the kunai's edge. Meanwhile, Kimiko refuses to give up on her brother and if need be, she'll tear down heaven and earth to find him again. Sequel to Naruto: Ouroboros.
1. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

-xxxxxx-

Tanzaku Gai was a city of vice, always had and always would be. It was a place of gambling, drinking and whoring, a place for human desires to seek satisfaction only to find a craving for even more in the next drink, in the next slot-machine or card table, in the next scantily clad woman. Certainly it was a place of great joy for many and certainly there were those who managed their desires at least somewhat, coming here for a few drinks and a session or two at the card tables and being content with that. Yet for all too many it was an addiction, a pounding addiction for ever more pleasure. People standing by the machines and the tables with eyes glowing with hunger, or glazed over by the bars or indeed in the alleys where they drank themselves into a stupor, or at the whorehouses where some whores had managed to gain several obsessive admirers that needed to be thrown out by force.

And where the insane hunger reigned, organized crime reigned. Tanzaku Gai was a city of crime. Not the crime that mugged people at knife-point, though there was no shortage of that as well. The crime that scammed people at the tables and threw them out when they objected, that mixed roofies into the drinks in return for being allowed to record what the buyer was going to do with his victim, that pushed people to gamble away their entire lives and clasp them in fetters as indentured servants. Pleasure, money and lives was the trade of Tanzaku Gai, all these being things the crime syndicates thrived in.

Anyone who claimed the syndicates were about brotherhood, honor or simply protecting your home were either deluded or lying. Whatever purposes the syndicates had started out for, they were nexuses of greed, fear and power-lust only. They were places where people were used up by their overlords and made to serve through money as well as large amounts of hot air about loyalty and terrifying examples made of all that didn't obey, cults formed around rapacious greed rather than manic worship of some deity, with utter control being wielded by those at the top in both cases. Like with the now departed Gatoh, money was king and what money couldn't buy, violence cowed.

This was the true nature of Tanzaku Gai, a fetid carbuncle hidden behind a facade of lights and levity. A rainstorm had drawn in over the city, making a brave, but futile, attempt to quell the perverse high spirits of the city. The droplets struck the roads and rooftops with a pitter-patter mirroring that of the feet inside the casinos, bars and whorehouses as well as on the roads outside as people hurried between these. Through these streets a small group of people were walking at the moment, their steps carrying none of the brisk eagerness or desperate hurry of everyone around them. Dressed in wide, hooded ponchos they were walking down the roads steadily, almost ominously. The middle figure of the trio looked up towards a street-sign that hung on the corner, brow furrowing before she turned left with the other two following her down it.

Their steps took them through the rain and into a more ominous part of the city of Tanzaku Gai, beyond the glittering facade and towards the seedy underbelly. The roads they came onto were not a tenth as lively as before. Some stores could be seen here or there as well as some smaller, run-down gambling establishments. Yet the biggest and most noticeable feature was the three-story building further down the street. Despite the relatively unremarkable construction, the way it seemed to spread out where it lay was easy to see. This was a house that had taken its place, the builders knocking down whatever got in the way. The sign hanging outside only made it even clearer what this was.

 _'Tanzu Group Headquarters',_ the sign said, marking this place as the headquarters of one of Tanzaku Gai's oldest and most vicious syndicate. The three figures came to a halt there, staring up at the sign for a second.

"This is it?" The second of the three figures asked, his male voice breaking through the almost oppressive silence that had come with the rain.

"Tanzu Group." The third figure said. "Has to be. They wouldn't have a decoy headquarters, they're too arrogant for that."

"Let's do this," the first figure said now walking up straight towards the door and opening it with a rough shove. It is important to keep in mind here what these buildings represented to the average man. This place was a place of dark power, the seat of a criminal emperor that shied no means to keep his power and who gladly killed just to make a point. This figure walked straight in, shoving the door open without any kind of hesitation. The either brave or insane action caught the attention of the thugs in the smoke-filled foyer, several tattooed men looking up in surprise as the trio entered. Some had been playing shogi, a few had been reading a magazine and others been sitting around talking. The intrusion drew all their eyes to the door however, shock and anger visible on their faces as they scrambled to their feet.

"Ey, the 'ell you think you doin', eh?!" A large, scarred man yelled as he stood up, coming over with a hand on his sword. He was a piece of work indeed, with tattoos visible at the neckline and wrists under his yukata and towering at least a foot above the three intruders. He blocked the way for them his entire body language showing his aggression and cocky arrogance.

"Get out of my way," the girl at the front of the group said, her face turning into a slight sneer as she looked at the man. "I'm here to see your boss, and I'm already in a bad enough mood that you don't want to push me further," she told him. The thug didn't listen, sadly, and after a second of shocked indignation he reached to pull out his sword. And yet, the girl stepped forward, slamming her palm towards the pommel of the sword to keep it there, her other hand shooting up to punch him in the cheek before she bent her now raised arm to bring her elbow into the man's solar plexus. The blow hit the diaphragm and the man collapsed like a wet rag onto the floor as the girl began to walk by him, stepping over the man's now curled up body as she headed for the door.

Another thug called out now, many of them reaching for their weapons, yet the third of the three figures raised his hood a little now, revealing what was beneath the hood. His face, as well as the forehead protector he wore, became visible. It was a forehead protector with a stylized leaf upon it.

"Try it, tadpoles," he told them with an amused voice, "just try it. It won't help, but try it." He smirked, looking at the thugs as he reached into his clothes for something. In that instant, all the bluster vanished from the thugs and they shrunk away, anger replaced with fear. Only one of them, a young man who had "fresh meat" written all of him, didn't back down.

"Don't you look down on the Tanzu Gro..." he began before an older man pulled him back and placed a hand over his mouth.

"P-pardon us, shinobi-sama," the older thug said now, bowing and pushing the younger man to bow as well. "I-I'll personally bring you before the boss," he added before whispering to the young man. "They're shinobi you idiot, if they want to they can kill us all!" The younger thug went pale now, his bravado vanishing as fast as that of his seniors. He withdrew quickly, the three intruders now pulling back their hoods.

"That was easy," the third figure said as his short brown hair came into view. Sarutobi Konohamaru smirked as he said this, looking at the thugs.

"Would I step out of line if I suggested more diplomacy from now on?" Uchiha Sasuke asked as he pulled back his hood as well. Compared to Konohamaru he seemed much like he had three years ago, only having grown taller and more mature. He looked to his teammate with a dry look on his face.

"Just bring us to your boss, will you?" Namikaze Kimiko said as she pulled back her hood as well. Her eyes were narrowed, focused and not the least amused. She looked at the thugs that now were slowly backing off with neither amusement nor dispassionate watchfulness, rather with contempt. Whatever childish roundness had been on her face had largely vanished and been replaced with a lean teenager's build. The whisker-like marks were still there, as were the short hair and the eye-color. But the eyes were different, much different. Compared to the Kimiko of three years ago, it was hard to see that it was the same person. The eyes had hardened, lost their vibrant, wide-eyed intensity and instead gotten the dull gleam of steel in them.

The intimidated thug nodded and hurriedly escorted them out of the foyer and deeper into the large compound. He led them up to the third floor and deep into the building, past room after room, many with activity of all kinds inside them, from what seemed like small parties to outright business meetings. In the end they came up to a large sliding door, guarded by two ronin who only reluctantly stepped to the side to allow them inside. They were shown into a massive room inside which the leader of the Tanzu Group was sitting. The man in question was in his sixties, a wiry, worn man with a wrinkled face, hard eyes and a mouth perpetually locked in a displeased scowl. Dressed in a yukata, he was sitting on a pillow in front of a table, seemingly having been in the middle of composing a letter. His pale green eyes turned to stare at the trio of shinobi that entered the room, narrowing as they fell on them.

"I didn't think you Konoha shinobi were given to dealing with my kind," he said with a hard, lifeless voice. "Especially not the little princess of Konoha. To what do I owe the honor of having Namikaze Kimiko herself visit me?" he asked, a sarcastic drawl in his voice. Kimiko entered the room, as did her companions, and they closed the door behind them. Kimiko walked up to the man, standing in front of him as she spoke.

"You're sheltering someone," she said, going straight for the business at hand, "I want to meet that person. You can do whatever you want with him after that, but I want to meet him." The old man behind the table narrowed his eyes a little more at this and slowly put away the brush he had been using, clasping his hands in front of himself and looking up at her.

"And why, pray tell, should I indulge such a request?" he asked. "You've given me no reason to do so. On the contrary, you barge into my home, threaten and indeed beat up my men, and now you make demands out of me? If you want something of me, you're doing a very poor job of getting it."

Kimiko glared down at him now, eyes narrowing for her as well as she slowly bared her teeth. "How about," she began now, "That if you don't, I'm going to raze this place to the ground and have you worked over with genjutsu until you squeal." If she had intended to be intimidating, it seemed she had failed, for the old man only smiled wryly.

"That's not how this works," he told her, "If you want something off someone it's common courtesy to offer something in return. While you shinobi tend to deal in violence, surely you're not unfamiliar with that concept?" he asked, Kimiko baring her teeth now.

"Your life," she said. "The continued existence of your extortion and gambling ring and that you'll keep that person when I'm done. Sounds like a decent deal for me. If you're so well-informed of everything you should know what I'm capable of."

"Little girl," the old man said now with a contempt-filled voice. "I've been in this business since before your father was born. You might be a jinchuuriki, but I did not get to where I am now by being a pushover myself. But go ahead then," he said. "Tear down this place, and let all of Fire Country buzz with the rumours of how the Hokage lets his daughter run loose, destroying whatever she pleases. I'm quite sure the Daimyo would take exception to have entire city blocks randomly demolished by the Shinobi that ostensibly are subordinate to him." He smiled now, evilly, and looked up at Kimiko without the least anxiety.

Kimiko only smiled however, staring down the man now as a tremor started going through the air. Her eyes slowly changed color, the pupils stretching out upwards and downwards to form into slits. She smiled, showing off her teeth which were slowly growing sharper and sharper as the almost palpable sensation of pure blood-thirst filled the room. An ancient, rage-filled hatred flooded the room, drenching everyone inside it in it's choking miasma and Kimiko's eyes locked straight onto the man, staring him down with all the force and terror of an ancient demon pouring out of her.

"Is that you giving me permission?" she asked, her voice reverberating with the force, the potency and the sheer HATRED of the ancient Kyuubi no Kitsune, all of it focused on the man in front of her. The man, who had been staring her down with a contempt-filled sneer, had now broken into a cold sweat. His hands were beginning to tremble and his breathing became quicker. Kimiko lashed out now, grabbing him by the clothes and pulling him in. "Do you remember when you were little?" she asked with a growl as she stared him down. "The monster under your bed? The thing you couldn't escape, that you cowered before? I am that monster, and it doesn't matter what you are. Give me what I want and I leave, otherwise, **I will eat you!"** Her last words made the entire room shake

The man trembled still, staring in fear into the eyes of terror itself as it held him, giving him no quarter, no escape, no way to avoid it but to submit. So he did, nodding frantically now and scurrying away when Kimiko let go of him. All his dignity was lost, the man cowed into obedience by primal horror. Kimiko towered above him and even as the man got up, standing taller than the young girl, he was subjugated with raw force. Konohamaru and Sasuke, who both had been standing silently by the door, exchanged a single glance as Kimiko followed the man out of the room, right behind him. If he had thought that he could make the shinobi stand down, he had not counted on just how far Kimiko was ready to go.

The aged man led Kimiko out of the room and down the stairs again, this time heading into the basement. The young kunoichi had lost the bestial appearance but not the ruthless determination in her eyes. None of them said anything as they got to the basement, where the old man pulled a small, hidden lever in the doorway which made a secret, heavy door open in the wall, a section of the wall rising to reveal a corridor beyond, a large, long corridor disappearing into the darkness.

"He is down there," the man said, looking back at Kimiko, who only shook his head.

"You're going as well," she said, fixing him with her glare. She moved to block the entrance out of the basement, giving the man no option but to obey unless he was planning to take her on. Gritting his teeth, the man slowly turned around and began down the hallway. Konohamaru and Sasuke were a few meters behind her and looked at her back now.

"Think this'll work?" Konohamaru asked Sasuke. "Will this 'defector' really spill?"

"Won't envy him if he doesn't," Sasuke muttered as they began after Kimiko. Neither of them envied the crime boss. Though he was a vile man, he was also the victim of three years of pent up impatience that now reached a boiling point. After three long years, the first trace of damn near anything concerning the Akatsuki had appeared and Kimiko had pounced on the clue with her fangs out. Their teammate was going to tear down earth and sky, and the man that now began into the corridor was caught right in her path. Kimiko followed him into the corridor with Sasuke and Konohamaru only a couple of meters behind her.

Then the man looked back at them for a second before lashing a hand out to the side, slamming a hand into the wall and pushing a secret button. In a split-second, the massive steel door that had hidden the corridor slammed down between Kimiko and her teammates. A loud bang echoed through the entire level, Kimiko looking back in surprise and finding only a thick metal wall behind her. As her eyes left the old crime boss, however, the man reached into his clothes and took out a kunai.

The distance between them was bridged in a second and Kimiko, still turned away, didn't see the man as he slashed towards her neck with a speed that made him turn into a blur. The knife dove towards her, seemingly about to impact yet only a split-second before impacting with her the neck moved away. Kimiko bent where she stood, with a gymnast's agility she leaned forwards, pulling one leg in and when she was bending almost downwards she kicked straight back, the foot burying itself deep in the man's stomach with force enough to shatter rocks. The man doubled over, his bulging eyes meeting Kimiko's ice cold as he folded over her foot like a wet rag. Legs and upper body both were propelled forwards even as his midriff flew backwards.

Then his mouth, open in shock, opened even further. It opened impossibly wide, a choking sound coming from it that turned into a ripping. Then, in a spray of fluids, something came out of the mouth and leaped at Kimiko, who stood with one leg in the air and was unable to duck quite in time. It slashed at her, Kimiko managing to leap backwards yet it didn't stop the attacker from tearing up a gash across her face. Spinning around, Kimiko leaped to the other side of the corridor and landed with her hands up, ready to fight and with bared teeth. Yet when she saw what now stood against her she blinked, the anger draining from her face.

Having landed on all fours in an inhumanly low stance, the figure that had emerged from the man's mouth moved, almost slithered, across the floor and stood up with graceful, serpentine movements. She reached up, running a hand through the soaked, stark white hair, pink at the roots, stroking it backwards as she looked at Kimiko with a cool, confident smirk on her face. The other hand rested against her hip, she wore a cherry-patterned yukata that hung loosely on her slender, pale frame and her eyes, pale green, were slitted. Kimiko's confusion and shock was in no way mirrored in the visage of the other woman, who only looked amused.

"S...Sakura?" Kimiko said after a few seconds. The disbelief was clear in her voice, the dismay equally so.

"My you've gotten violent Kimiko-chan," Sakura said, her voice so different from the voice Kimiko remembered. None of the hesitation she had shown during their first time as friends, none of the passion that had replaced it. Instead, she spoke with a sultry purr, a seductress' voice, and Kimiko, who never had been into girls, didn't find the effect anything but jarring, plain wrong. That wasn't Sakura's tone, not one bit. "Is that the bijuu doing it to you?" Sakura asked her with a smirk.

On the other side of the door, meanwhile, Sasuke and Konohamaru had both rushed up to the door, standing now and pushing against it, trying to find the entrance.

"Of course this had to happen," Konohamaru snarled, "Her impatience bit us all in the ass, why can't anything surprising ever happen?!" he yelled as he banged a fist against the heavy steel wall

"Stay back," Sasuke said as he stepped back himself and raised his hand as it began to glow, arcs of lightning dancing between the fingers as the light grew blinding and a chirping sound filled the air. The Chidori blazed in his hand as he reached back to slam it straight into the wall. He was stopped though, someone coming up behind him and slashing at him. Sasuke ducked under the slash and cut the figure down, seeing one of the mobsters fall down dead to the ground, yet dozens more of them coming at the two shinobi, all with drawn weapons.

"Oh fuck me," Konohamaru said with a grim grin on his face as he pulled out his fighting staff, Sasuke raising his sword as he had to release the Chidori to focus on the battle. Inside the corridor, meanwhile, Sakura and Kimiko kept staring each other down. Kimiko, whose face had been caught in shock, eventually shook her head.

"There was no defector, right?" she asked, her voice quivering a little at the sight of her old friend. Sakura smiled widely, a smile that would have seemed kind, were it not so deriding. She looked at Kimiko like she was a funny little girl only, a child just having solved a simple riddle.

"Good work Kimiko," she said with sarcastic approval, raising her hands to give a small clap. "Good work indeed. I was honestly afraid your brain wouldn't be good for anything still, but lo and behold, you actually can see what's right in front of you." Kimiko's eyes narrowed, hackles rising at the insults flung at her from one she once had called friend and who had vanished so suddenly out of her life.

"Why?" she asked now, looking at Sakura with pain, anger and sadness in her eyes. "They killed hundreds of people, just because they could. They're trying to kill me! Why are you with them."

"And yet you're here," Sakura said, smirking as she did so. "Despite this oh-so-great risk, you're going after them. You've nothing to blame but yourself when you die because of this."

"I'm not going to die," Kimiko growled, flexing her fingers now. "You got the drop on me and still only gave me this," she said as she pointed to the already healed nick. "You really think you're strong enough to beat me?"

"Survival of the fittest Kimiko," Sakura smiled now, her smile turning only more and more vicious. "Strength is irrelevant, adaptation to the circumstances you're in is what matters. And I tricked you into this corridor, I isolated you, and what more," she said as he smile turned near psychotic. "You might be starting to feel a bit woozy now." Kimiko blinked now, reaching up to her head near instinctively as she stumbled. Eyes widening as she felt how the dizziness came over her, Kimiko realized she'd been poisoned! "Silly, silly little girl," Sakura purred as she began towards Kimiko, walking slowly as she raised her knife again.

Kimiko only growled, charging Sakura now and giving up a wild cry as she lashed out with a kick that Sakura dodged. Yet Kimiko turned the kick around, bringing it back the other way around and left Sakura bending over backwards to duck. The wild attack continued, Kimiko not relenting but keeping it up. Her moves might be sluggish and forced, yet they kept coming towards a Sakura that kept ducking and weaving, moving with serpentine speed and fluidity as she dodged every blow, no matter how many Kimiko threw. The girl kept it up though, pushing through with grim determination. Not in blind anger or stubbornness, however. Kimiko was buying time.

On the other side of the wall Konohamaru kicked the last of the thugs in the head, sending him cartweeling backwards and landing with his neck twisted at a strange angle. All around them now, the thugs lay unmoving as the young Sarutobi looked back to his Uchiha teammate, motioning towards the door.

"Get that thing down now, now now now!" he said, the look on his face betraying his anger and his concern both as he repeatedly stabbed his finger in the direction of the door, looking around with his staff in his free hand. Sasuke said nothing, only raised his hand and forming a chidori again. Without any hesitation he slammed it into the door, tearing through it and creating a deep hole in it, a hole almost a foot across. Tearing out his hand, he formed another chidori to begin tearing down the wall bit by bit.

Inside the chamber Kimiko delivered a wild spin-kick and landed unsteadily, but grinning herself.

"Teammates, heard of that!" she yelled. "You got... got about twenty seconds before they're through, think your poison is that fast!?" Sakura only chuckled however, darkly, and took a step back as she lashed her hands out to the sides, fingers faintly moving.

"Oh Kimiko, so you've got two boys helping you out?" she asked, the thin strings of chakra attached to her hands, dozens of them going out in all directions, through the small holes in the ceiling and out into the room on the other side of the giant barrier, down through the ceiling and finally into the heads of the unmoving thugs, who twitched. The downed men slowly began to move, pushing themselves up, moving with jerking, stiff movements as dull groans came from them. Konohamaru and Sasuke both looked backwards to them, seeing how the men they just had defeated stood up. Their eyes dead, their bodies moving like puppets, their hearts still but their bodies coaxed into obedience once again. "I've got a hundred," Sakura whispered.

"Oh for fuck's sake..." Konohamaru whispered as the thugs got up again, all pretense of being more than mere corpses having fallen away now, revealing their undead state. Shambling and stiff, the corpses nevertheless charged with immense speed. All mortal restraints and limitations removed from them, these corpses now struck without any heed of the damage their movements caused to their bodies. Konohamaru managed to get in between the nearest corpse and Sasuke, whose hand was deep inside the steel door, parrying the undead attacker before it struck his Uchiha teammate.

Meanwhile, Kimiko heard the moans and the snarl of Konohamaru, looking to Sakura with bared teeth. "Why!" she screamed, attacking again. "We were friends! Why did you go with them?! Did all the lives they ended mean nothing to you?! Answer me damn it!" She screamed, her eyes starting to mist up as she struck again and again, hitting nothing but air as Sakura half ducked half danced out of the way. The pale young woman's movements were lightning fast, writhing and slithering, making her as easy to hit as a cloud of smoke to Kimiko in her dizzy condition.

"Friends?" Sakura asked, lashing out now as her fingernails slashed across Kimiko's arm, ripping up four long gashes on it as Sakura shot past Kimiko, coming up behind her in a split-second. "That's what you want to call it?" she asked. "You were, always were, a thug looking for a fight, and protecting a nerd was a paper-thin justification for your violence,"she said as she'd backed off and now was circling Kimiko with the pacing gait of a panther. "Friendship? Our relationship was built on using each other. You were a shield against bullies and I was your intellectual alibi, the only thing that kept you from failing," she said, giggling before she dashed in and blocked a blow before kicking Kimiko in the face to send the girl tumbling backwards. "And yet you, little idiot, kept seeing something where there was none," she said as she advanced on Kimiko. "For that... you die."

"I...I..." Kimiko said, the poison and the blow both making her dizzy. She was down to one knee, holding onto the floor for support as Sakura pulled out a bottle of something, uncorking it. Making a flowing gesture, she pulled out the fumes from inside it and blew it towards Kimiko. Coughing, Kimiko threw up a hand in a futile attempt to defend herself but the fumes struck her and she fell down. "I..." she whispered hoarsely as the fumes seeped into her nose, her mouth and her ears. She lay on the ground as Sakura advanced on her to take her away.

Then, the surge of ki filled the room. In one instant it went from nothing to choking, a force as ancient as time that made the seemingly deranged apprentice of Kimiko's renegade brother freeze in her tracks. Kimiko pushed herself up and turned her head to stare into Sakura's eyes.

" **I am getting real tired of your emo bullshit Sakura-chan!"** She said with a voice filled to the brim with malice, rage and steel. Her eyes had turned from bright green to bloody red, the pupils forming into slits and her teeth into fangs. The faint whiskers on her cheeks had turned into wide stripes and through the skin a faint, glowing web of tattoos could be seen. Her fingers curled up and claws were growing from the tips that dug into the stone floor and left deep scratches in her wake.

Sakura had taken a single step back at the sight, staring at Kimiko with actual shock and indeed fear in her pale green eyes. "H-how..." she whispered. "That was enough to sedate a dozen people..."

 **"You think some extra chakra is the only benefit to being a jinchuuriki?"** Kimiko asked through her clenched, bared teeth as she stood hunched together on all fours, seemingly more animal than human. **"Say hello to oniichan's handiwork. Last and only chance, surrender or I'll beat you to a pulp and drag you back to Konoha. You're not beating me, not like this. He made me more powerful than you can imagine!"**

Sakura was left staring at Kimiko in shock and no small amount of dismay. She was caught off guard by the transformation, suddenly standing in front of not merely a young kunoichi, but the nigh-avatar of the nine-tailed fox itself. The dismay and shock gave away after a few seconds though, Sakura's face morphing into pure rage as well; poisonous, insane fury. With a shriek, Sakura launched herself at Kimiko, lashing out towards her throat but having the hand caught in a grip like a vice. Kimiko tore Sakura's fist downward to lock her against the floor but Sakura merely dislocated her arm and spun around to kick Kimiko in the side of the neck, sending the Jinchuuriki stumbling as the kick perfectly hit a nerve cluster and paralyzed most of her left side.

"You're nothing!" Sakura shrieked as she kept launching blow after blow against Kimiko. "You ride the coattails of something else, nothing but the funnel for power not yours! What do you know of power?! What do you know of him making you something greater!? I'm the one He made great! I'm ten times greater than you'll ever be! You're nothing but a failure, a discarded parasite!" The blows rained down on Kimiko, furious and unrelenting, striking at weak spots and nerve clusters with full force. Even powered-up by the Bijuu, Kimiko found the torrent of blows hard to take. Hadn't the first blow dug so deep into her diaphragm she could have fought back, yet now she had no air to work with. "Nothing! You're nothing! Without that beast you're useless! A brain-dead, useless freak!" she screamed as Kimiko ended up pushed against the wall, nailed there by the blows that just kept coming, cutting off the air for her and leaving her gasping. One, final blow from Sakura knocked Kimiko's head back and making cracks spread in the stone behind her head. Kimiko coughed, the bijuu's chakra receding. Coughing, Kimiko looked at Sakura, one eye swelling shut and blood seeping from where her fangs had bit into her lip.

"Y... you're right about one thing..." Kimiko said, despite the situation grinning. "He... he did make you great... damn, you fight like a devil these days..." Sakura, whose eyes had been glowing with rage, suddenly blinked. "And yeah... this thing inside me is where I get most of my power... but not all of it..." she said, glancing towards the steel door. "Some of it... I get from my friends too." She said, her smile turning into a massive grin just as the steel door bent inwards with a deafening shriek, bursting open like someone threw a boulder through rice paper.

"Yakuza and then zombies!" Konohamaru said as he and Sasuke came through the devastated door, both with weapons covered in blood and with a veritable sea of mangled corpses outside the corridor as evidence of their rampage "What's next?" he asked before his eyes fell on Sakura and Kimiko, "oh I see, It's little miss Forehead, all grown-up and whore-ified!" he snarled, twirling his staff around and adopting a stance

"Let go of her, now," Sasuke said, his red eyes narrowed as he raised his sword and began to pace around the two women to cut Sakura off. Sakura was hyperventilating still, teeth bared and her eyes glowing with rage again. In the end however, she stepped back and smirked, giving up a small, silvery laugh. As if the anger had never appeared, she twirled around in place, throwing out her hands.

"Very well Kimiko-chan," she said as she looked down at the Kimiko that had sunken, coughing, to the floor. "You win this round. But the red dawn is coming, and it'll be one of blood for you. Just you wait, just you wait," she said, her smile deranged again before she lashed out to the sides with her hands, sending out a cluster of smoke-bombs that burst mid-air, throwing out smoke in all directions.

When it cleared, only seconds later, she was gone with not one trace to be seen.

"Oh for the love of fucking..." Konohamaru called out. "You couldn't see her?" he asked heatedly as both of them hurried up to Kimiko.

"Chakra-blocking smoke... never seen that before..." the Uchiha said calmly as he looked around, sword still raised. "Are you okay Kimiko?" he asked as they came up to Kimiko and helped her up. She looked like she'd been trampled by oxen.

"Yeah... ow damn..." Kimiko groaned as she got up, the brutal beating she'd gotten taking its sweet time to heal. "Kono..." she said after a second, Konohamaru leaning in with a furrow on his brow to hear what she was going to say. What he got in the end, however, was a punch in the face. Stumbling backwards and landing on his ass, Konohamaru cursed loudly as he looked up at Kimiko, whose fist still was raised. "You don't call Sakura that," Kimiko told him, staring down at him with steel in her eyes. Konohamaru, massaging his jaw, looked up at Kimiko with wide eyes.

"Oh for the love of..." Konohamaru began. "She's been a missing-nin for three years, she stabbed you in the back and is with a group of psychos after your head!"

"And?" Kimiko asked. "You still don't call her that, or do I have to hit you again?"

"Sheesh, fine, fine!" Konohamaru said, getting to his feet and stumbling a little as he moved his jaw back and forth with a wincing grimace.

"Let's get out of here," Sasuke stated now, diverting Kimiko's attention away from the forbidden word used by her teammate and Team Seven quickly exfiltrated. Behind they left the entirety of the Tanzu group, all of them murdered to be used as decoys by their former, now rogue, classmate. It was subdued trio that left the building, then the block, then the city and finally took the road back towards Konoha.

-xxxxxx-

So yeah... I did say see you in a few months, didn't I? Twelve is a few, isn't it... right...? Please don't kill me? Sorry about the delay, RL, writer's block and other stuff came together to dogpile me hard and it's first now that I feel even remotely confident in my work enough to start posting again. Ouroboros isn't dead yet however, and I hope you'll like the second installment of this story as much as you did the first.


	2. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

AN: Jesus christ, and here I thought summer would be a calm period. Many apologies for the delay, work kicked my ass. Enjoy the next chapter.

-XXXXXX-

The rain had stopped when they got back to Konoha and the clouds were slowly parting as they came through the gate. Ushered in by the sentries, they walked through the wet streets where small puddles still were doing their best to sink into the dirt road and were left splashing as they were struck by the feet whose owners at last could be out and move without getting too wet. The trio of young shinobi that were heading for the Hokage tower, however, were still dampened in spirit even as the weather had dried up. Kimiko's face, now healed, was a study in barely contained frustration and her teammates didn't seem much happier as they walked towards the Hokage Tower to give their report. They were given a wide berth as most civilians knew well the sight of shinobi returning from a mission that had gone south. Best to let sleeping dogs lie.

On the path, however, there was one who did stop them. Coming around the corner from a side alley and starting down in their opposite direction, Sarutobi Asuma came. At first neither side noticed each other but after a couple of seconds Asuma's and Konohamaru's eyes met, the elder Sarutobi beginning to slow down as he met the trio of younger shinobi.

"How'd the mission go?" he asked before coming to a stop, Kimiko noticing him first now and coming to a clear stop along with Sasuke, forcing Konohamaru to stop as well. The mood didn't improve by this one bit, Konohamaru silently scowling but at the very least acknowledging Asuma's presence. Kimiko sighed, meanwhile, and looked into the distance.

"South," she said bitterly, Asuma nodding slowly.

"Bad info?" he asked before taking a puff of his cigarette. Being in the Hokage's inner circle gave him insight into most missions these days and Kimiko's mission was no exception. Kimiko responded by shaking her head.

"Ambush," she said with no more cheer. "Someone I haven't seen in a long time..."

"May I ask?" Asuma wondered now, not pushing the issue but merely putting it out there. It was an open no-strings-attached offer to listen. Kimiko shrugged.

"Sakura-chan," she said, her voice clearly showing how upset it made her. Asuma grimaced.

"At the very least you got out alive" he said. "Any ambush you walk away from went well." Kimiko only sighed and Sasuke stepped in.

"It was... troubling to see her again. She's fallen far," he stated, remember the wild-eyed madwoman they'd met. He thought back on the shy intellectual she'd been in the academy and felt a sting of anger at Kimiko's older brother for what had become of the young girl. Asuma shook his head.

"I won't push the issue," he told them respectfully. "Actually, I was hoping to ask you something," he said as he turned to Konohamaru.

"What?" Konohamaru asked spitefully, yelping in the next moment as Kimiko slapped him over the head without missing a single beat or indeed even looking. Rubbing the back of his head, he glared at her before clearing his throat. "I mean, what is it?" he asked with a much more neutral voice.  
"Would you mind taking it elsewhere?" Asuma asked, glancing to Kimiko and Sasuke.

"No, but you can tell them too," Konohamaru said, still without spite however. That was all that stopped Kimiko from slapping him again. Asuma didn't push it.

"I... am getting married in a couple of months," he revealed, Konohamaru blinking.

"The fu..." he began but held his tongue. "Okay. so...?"

"Yeah," Asuma continued, the awkwardness so thick that you could cut it with a knife. "I... wanted to ask you if you would come... and if you did, in what capacity?"

"Capacity how?" Konohamaru asked him.

"If you'd be okay with it, nothing would make me happier to have you there as my nephew... but if that is too much, you could come as just a guest, or not at all." Team 7 all looked at Asuma, Kimiko with open shock on her face. If Konohamaru went as just a guest or was absent, that'd both be the kind of stuff that caused a scandal. Asuma Sarutobi inviting his only relative as just some guest or not even inviting... Kimiko wasn't much for social niceties, preferring to be blunt, but her head almost spun at the thought of the gossip-fest that'd unleash.

"Hey, isn't that supposed to be your day?" Konohamaru asked, no less shocked. "Shouldn't you be pushing a little harder to get me to come in the 'proper' way?" he asked, making finger-quotes.

"It'll be my day no matter what," Asuma said with a slow sigh. "I just don't know if I'm justified in demanding you to be part of it."

"Sheesh, guilt-trip me a little more will you?" Konohamaru drawled as he looked away, fidgeting a little. For a few seconds he was quiet before grunting. "I'll think about it, okay?" he told his estranged uncle. "I'll reply in a couple weeks or something..." he muttered, looking to the side towards nowhere in particular. "Thanks for giving me the option..." he added after a while.

"Thank you," Asuma said, remaining calm but Kimiko could outright smell the waves of joy that rolled off him. It was a skill granted by the Kyuubi, pretty helpful at times like these, and she grinned up at Asuma.

"Congratulations!" she said warmly. "Can I guess who the lucky bride is? Maybe another senseeei?" she asked, Asuma replying with a stupid smile. "I thought so!" she sing-songed happily.

"Congratulations," Sasuke agreed, bowing slightly. "Pass on my well-wishes to the bride as well."

"I will," Asuma told them, "I gotta go now anyway, good luck to you as well." With those words, he departed and left Team Seven behind as he headed off to his destination, wherever that was. Kimiko looked to Konohamaru with a wide smile and ruffled his hair.

"Well done Kono-chan," she said happily, all smiles and sunshine. "I'm really proud of you right now."

"Well I couldn't tell him to fuck off now could I?" Konohamaru asked, leaning away from her to make her stop ruffle his hair. "After this mission I'd come across as an asshole if I did."

"Isn't that what you are?" Sasuke asked, causing Konohamaru to blink.

"Hey!" he began before stopping. "Well, yeah but... not like that!" he eventually protested.

"If you say so," Sasuke said airily, "Shall we proceed?" he asked Kimiko, who was hiding a smile at Konohamaru's floundering. Konohamaru gave him a murderous glare but didn't say any more as they began to walk. The mood was lightened at least somewhat but it didn't last, Kimiko being back to gloominess by the time they reached the Hokage tower. The events that preceded their return to the village weren't that easily cast from Kimiko's mind and as they walked towards the Hokage's office she walked in silence and with a face where frustration and disappointment lay clear.

As they entered the tower they once again had an encounter with familiar faces. This time it was Zaku, Kiba and Hinata, the now chuunin of Team 8. They were in a better mood by the looks of it, or at least not as foul. Zaku raised a hand to salute them as they came walking.

"Sup," he said in greeting. Zaku was perhaps one of the few who'd mellowed out in the last years, wearing a konoha uniform in addition to a large scarf. Somewhat amusingly, he'd taken to try to grow a beard but only produced a small patch of hair that he tended to with almost excessive love and care. Kimiko was usually on good footing with the Tsubaki clan, having been one of the few friends they still had in the village, but as it was she didn't find the strength to return Zaku's greeting and instead merely walked past the young man and his team, leaving Zaku to look after her with a surprised and somewhat hurt expression. After these last three years the Tsubaki clan had taken to holding the friends they still had in very high regard. Those in Konoha who didn't view the clan as potential traitors had long since learned that a Tsubaki friendship was something not lightly given but when it was, it was as firm as the mountains. Zaku was no exception and the rejection of his greeting from someone he'd held very dear left him instantly worried. Meanwhile, Kimiko and her teammates were brought into the Hokage's office where Minato awaited them.

The past three years had not been kind to the fourth Hokage as the elemental nations had been teetering on the precipice of disaster ever since the Akatsuki raid on the chuunin exams. The Raikage had half withdrawn from the alliance, refusing to commit any shinobi to joint missions or attempts or share information in the efforts to track down the Akatsuki. Kiri had gone one step further and what the Mizukage had promised after the exams had come to be. Konoha shinobi were not permitted beyond the coastlines of the elemental nations. Minato had ordered the seas to be left alone so as to not provoke any more fury from the vengeful Mizukage. Iwa lurked in the northwest, having been ominously silent for over a year. Only Suna remained even nominally friendly to Konoha, if nothing else due to the Kazekage's personal grudge towards the Akatsuki after the death of all his children in one, fell swoop. Even then the alliance built on a mutual enemy only where once there had been ties of friendship through Kimiko and Gaara. Add to this a Konoha that had been in shock after the exams, roving bands of minor clans, robber bands and all manner of miscreants seemingly coming out of the woodwork as well as an enemy that Konoha was hard pressed to get any intel whatsoever on and it was not hard to understand why the gold in Minato's hair had begun to be mixed with silver.

"Welcome back," he greeted them, the three all bowing in greeting of the Hokage. The man leaned back in his chair as he watched the three of them, his eyes going from Sasuke to Kimiko and then to Konohamaru. "Judging from how you look it didn't go well." Kimiko looked away at this, feeling once again the frustration well up inside her and Sasuke took charge now.

"We went to Tanzaku Gai, as ordered, to make contact with the Tanzu Group and convince them to hand over the Akatsuki defector. After some initial difficulties the group's Oyabun acquiesced and brought us to see that person. It turned out to be a trap. The Tanzu Group was already dead, down to the last man, and their corpses reanimated to serve as decoys. The Oyabun, meanwhile, was not reanimated but his skin was worn as a disguise by Haruno Sakura, who cornered and cut off Namikaze-san in an attempt to capture her. Sarutobi-san and I managed to fight our way through the dead yakuza and prevent Haruno from succeeding, however she got away before we could capture her." He gave his report in a brisk, unsentimental manner, leaving his personal feelings at the door.

"I see," Minato said, having clasped his hands in front of his face and sighing deeply when Sasuke was done. Leaning his forehead against the interlocked fingers, he was silent for a second before looking up. "What was your assessment of Haruno?" he asked.

"Lethally competent, ruthless to the point of psychopathy and mentally unstable," Sasuke said frankly. "She..." he hesitated for a second, glancing at Kimiko but when he was given no sign that she didn't want him to continue he kept talking. "...managed to corner and best Namikaze-san. If we hadn't intervened I am uncertain what would have happened."

Minato listened in silence to what the young Uchiha told him in silence, slowly rubbing his thumbs against each other and nodding as Sasuke spoke. He had no reason do doubt any of what he was told, yet all the same it broke his heart.

"I want a detailed report on this mission as soon as possible, especially concerning Haruno's abilities. Cooperate with the Intelligence Division on this to cross-reference what you've learned with what they know. Dismissed," he finished, sitting up straight as he looked them over. "Also... despite everything, good work escaping the ambush... you can stay Kimiko," he added after a second's hesitation. He probably broke a whole lot of rules by asking his daughter to stay behind like this, not the least the unwritten rules of professionalisms, but screw those right now.

Sasuke and Konohamaru both left the room without much ado or any objections, leaving father and daughter alone in the room. Standing up, Minato walked around the desk and came up to her. One hand landed gently on her shoulders as Minato pushed her face up with the other.

"Are you okay?" he asked her tenderly, Kimiko instantly wrapping her arms around her father as she took a deep, shivering breath. She clung to him and Minato tenderly embraced her as well, stroking her hair.

"I don't know..." Kimiko whispered. "I'm just so confused. Sakura-chan acted so weird, like some crazy hostess or something... but at the same time... it was almost like watching oniisan. She was amazing... she fought like... wow... but she seemed to hate me so much... I don't know..." she whimpered, clinging to her father as she did her best to hold back the tears. Minato let his daughter vent all her confusion and frustration but felt at the same time how his own sorrow over the situation grew with every passing word. Already his son was deep in enemy territory, seen as a traitor by everyone bar Minato, whose relationship with his son really hadn't been that splendid anyway. His daughter was left grieving the effective loss of her big brother as well as one of her closest friends. His wife had wanted to believe that it all just was one giant undercover operation but after three years of no evidence trust was low, tension and uncertainty rife and it had left Minato and Kushina all but separated. Most of these things, however, were things he had been forced to account for when making a snap decision that saw Naruto thrust into the middle of these psychopaths.

Yet... Haruno Sakura... he hadn't, couldn't, account for Naruto's little apprentice taking the leap that time, going to the very end for her master's sake. All he knew was that Sakura's defection had twisted the dagger in Kimiko's soul even more. In Kimiko's and Minato's both really; considering that Naruto had asked Minato to take care of his apprentice only to have the girl do something this unexpected.

Perhaps it didn't matter in the grand perspective, maybe Sakura was a minor player, an unforeseen consequence that could or indeed should be disregarded or removed from the board. But Minato couldn't bring himself to see it from that angle. He just couldn't. Sakura was a victim here, not a nuisance, and Minato could only remember the small, sickly girl who had been so eager to please and make her master proud. Caught in the cogs of this entire set-up, she was being ground to dust right now, and he hated it.

So what could he do? Not much as it was. Hold his daughter, comfort her and let her know that despite her failure and the painful blast from the past she'd experienced today he still was here for her. When deeds failed, he supposed love would have to do. He just hoped it did.

-XXXXXX-

In the distant, dark base of the Akatsuki, the missing-nin Haruno Sakura kow-towed in front of the robed figure that looked down on her. She carried marks of the battle she had fought still and her clothes were torn. This, coupled with the kow-towing and quiet but rapid breathing that could be heard coming from her all added to the tension of her fearful silence. The figure was staring down at her, his face unreadable behind the white mask he wore, and first after a while did the figure move. Hunching down, he reached for Sakura's head and took her by the jaw. Pulling her face upwards to look him in the eyes, the figure stared her down before finally speaking.

"So in summary, despite isolating and getting the drop on your target as well as having an entire yakuza group's worth of corpses to distract her teammates with, you failed," he asked her with a voice bereft of much of anything resembling emotions. What little emotions there were consisted of apathetic annoyance, displeasure with the results but at the same time not caring at all. It was as if the events that led to Sakura's current state didn't matter, a vestigial nuisance at best.

"Y-yes master," Sakura answered, breathless from fear and exhaustion both. As she spoke her heart pounded in her chest. She felt her body tremble with anxiety and indeed despair. Anxiety at her failure, at having had a perfect setup but never the less having nothing but a complete fiasco to show for it. The despair, meanwhile, came from the apathetic tone her master spoke with. Someone else might have been relieved by the lack of true anger yet Sakura only felt how the panic threatened to overwhelm her. Her master didn't even care about her failure! She'd done all she could, fought as smartly and as well as she could, done everything, yet she had failed and that didn't even matter to him!

"And what will you do now?" Her master asked her evenly, almost conversationally, as Sakura silently begged for him to punish her for her failure. To yell at her, ask her just how she could have failed so miserably after all he'd taught her. Sigh and shake his head in disgust and disappointment. Even hit her, let her taste the price of letting him down. Anything, as long as he showed her something other than this apathy, this disinterest. She'd given up all for the man in front of her, could he not at least care that she'd let him down? Was she so pathetic that she didn't even warrant his ire for her failure?!

"I... I will review my performance, find what I did wrong and improve on that." Sakura answered submissively. She had to find out what she had done wrong, what she had to do to improve. The young kunoichi knew she was a traitor, someone who had abandoned her family, her home and her friends. She knew that and she wasn't heartless enough that she didn't care at all about those things, no matter the facades she could put up. Yet it was the man before him that had uplifted her, turned her from a bookworm doomed to obscurity at best to someone who stood among the greatest shinobi. She was someone, someone strong, a unique person instead of a tag-along.

This wasn't due to her parents, who had considered the academy training plenty enough for their daughter. Not due to the friends she seemed to have mostly acted either substitute teacher or accessory to. Not due to the village where she'd been one unremarkable figure among thousands. She had been too subdued to stand out with such intense 'friends', too well-read to be given much of the teachers' attention and too well-behaved to be noticed by anyone. It was all thanks to the man in front of her. For the first time she'd been in the center instead of the edge of things. She'd developed, been pushed to excel, been challenged in the fields where she shone, felt like she actually belonged... and in one moment she'd thrown away everything just for that, for the feeling of being where she was meant to be instead of stuck as a mercenary. For that she had become a traitor, abandoning all. She couldn't look back now, she mustn't; yet to now stand here, a failure, and not even be admonished for her failure made her want to break down. Not this disinterest, of all things not this from him too. Not after she'd given up so much!

"Good," her master told him. "You can leave. I'll call for you when needed." With that, he had dismissed her and Sakura bowed her head. She didn't dare to say anything. Even though she wanted to implore him to say something, do something, give her anything but his apathy she kept her peace and slowly rose to her feet. She bowed once more before departing the room in silence and without a backwards glance. As she headed for the small room that she slept in she felt her heart pound at a frantic, desperate pace. She had to become better, she had to find out how to become stronger! If she didn't, she'd remained like this; a pitiful traitor ignored and dismissed by the only person she had left.

-XXXXXX-

Damn that girl Naruto thought as he looked after Sakura. Frowning behind his mask, he struggled with the feeling of disappointment that filled him. Not disappointment in Sakura's ability or her performance... or maybe that was precisely it in a way. She'd gone up against Namikaze Kimiko, Sarutobi Konohamaru and Uchiha Sasuke, each a skilled enough shinobi to have been informally known as an "ace genin" even when they graduated and who these days had become infamous in the underworld where the Akatsuki festered. Sakura had gone up against that and still almost managed to win. Had he truly misjudged her level to that extent he wondered.

What he'd hoped for when sending her hadn't been a victory. He'd all but seen her defeat as a foregone conclusion. Much like during her first and only chuunin exam, he'd expected her to fight well but fail against an overwhelming foe. Like then her failure would have been to her benefit. Back then she'd shown herself ready to take on a bijuu and fight to the bitter end. This time... if she'd been defeated she would have been taken back to Konoha, away from the Akatsuki, the insane Pein and the motley band of sociopaths he'd gathered. She would have been imprisoned in the most secure facility Konoha had and not stuck with him on this now three-year long assignment. She was breaking, had been for a long time, and Naruto had sent her in a desperate attempt to get her to relative safety. Minato knew the truth and would have made sure she wasn't tortured or executed which was more than he could hope for her where she was now.

Naruto already walked a tightrope with the madman who led this group, having long since concluded that Pein was a narcissist with a god-complex and not just a disregard for human life but a near fetish for watching people squirm helplessly in his grip. Sakura had been in his sights since day one and Naruto had been forced to one audacious maneuver after another to keep her alive. He'd hoped that this move would have fulfilled the twofold purpose of getting Sakura out of there as well as hinting to Konoha that the Akatsuki was on the move again. Yet she'd gone after three elite shinobi, one of them a jinchuuriki, and she had actually avoided capture! Again she performed better than he ever could have expected yet this time it only left a bitter taste in his mouth. She had, in a way, failed due to her lack of failure and as a result she was stuck with him in the Akatsuki. Damn it... things were spiraling steadily downwards right now, not the least since...

"Namikaze," a voice said behind him, Naruto silently sighing. There it was. He turned around to face Konan, the second-in-command of the Akatsuki. One of the most exotic shinobi he knew in terms of abilities as well as one of the deadly, she was also one of the most complete examples he'd ever seen of emotional detachment. Whatever trauma lay in her past, it had made her seem more like a machine of flesh and blood than a human being. The only thing human left in her was her devotion to Pein, whom she served with fanatic loyalty. Naruto met her eyes, feeling the sting of wariness that always came when staring into the dead eyes of the woman in front of him. She was still an enigma to him and the only thing Naruto knew for certain was that if ordered, she'd strike without even an instant's hesitation, like a switch was flipped.

"Konan," he greeted her evenly. While he respected her skill, he had dismissed her a long time ago as a human being. There was little human about her, and thus little interesting.

" _He_ asks for you," she told him and Naruto nodded. As he'd expected. Pein wanted an explanation for what had happened in Tanzaku Gai. An explanation and to watch his "servant" squirm. Wordlessly, he began towards the woman and could almost time down to a fraction of a second her response as she turned around and began to lead him to Pein's chamber, or the Chamber of Pein as Kisame had called it once as an attempt at humor. Naruto supposed the jury was still out on whether it had succeeded. He certainly hadn't laughed, nor was he laughing currently as he followed the woman through the giant, dark chambers of the Akatsuki base.

He hated this place; it was like walking through a void at times. It certainly added to the "evil organization" feel, yet it was all too easy to end up feeling small, lost and abandoned down here. What rooms that weren't obscenely huge were cramped, almost so that you couldn't stand upright. Light was minimal and an oppressive silence hovered over everything. Naruto was pretty certain Pein had intended all of it to be precisely in such a way. For all his megalomania he wasn't stupid, only sublimely sadistic. In the massive chamber where his current master resided everything was twice as massive, dark, muffled and alien as outside it. Naruto, who knew how the world was supposed to behave in terms of light, sound and so forth; all the subtle, yet all too noticeable ways in which it was warped in here unnerved him a lot. It was so casual, such a casual defiance against the very laws of nature, and the middle of it all sat the self-declared second coming of the Sage of Six Paths.

Pein sat slouching in the giant machine throne that kept him sustained. While apparently born with the eyes of the Sage, he did not have the metabolism or physiology required to produce the chakra needed to be able to use his abilities fully, Naruto had concluded a long time ago. The device was ancient and insanely complex, with Naruto having little clue to how it worked, and what more it was heavily guarded at all times meaning sabotage was out of the question. Slowly, the master of the throne sat upright and looked at him. The lilac eyes seemed to stare into him, through him. He hated meeting this man's gaze.

"I am told..." Pein began in that slow, deliberate manner. "...that your lackey struck to seize the Kyuubi's Jinchuuriki... struck, and failed." he added, staring Naruto down.

"That is a not incorrect summary of past events," Naruto said evenly, not planning on lying or trying to squirm. If this madman wasn't fed what he desired, he'd grow bored in the end and stop trying to provoke a reaction.

"For three years we've hid," Pein kept talking. "Three years of leaving the elemental nations nothing but mists and shadow to chase. Now that mist and shadow is dispelled by your underling moving on her own, in an attack I did not allow. I am not pleased by this turn of events."

"As one might expect," Naruto remarked. "I am hardly pleased myself and I've seen to admonishing her for her failure. However, my lord, I must respectfully inform you of some of the context."

"Speak," Pein demanded of him, staring him down like a predatory animal.

"Firstly," Naruto began, "The Akatsuki is the blood red dawn. We come, inevitable and unstoppable, and yet it starts with a mere gleam in the darkness, a faint light that only grows. I can think of no fainter light than my apprentice. Secondly; the time has come to begin moving again, and like you shocked the world three years ago, this tiny pinprick sends them scrambling. We're coming. They know this, yet they cannot do anything because they know not from where we come, how or in what capacity. For three years the elemental nations has been crumbling, now merely a minor kick at the right place, even if it did not do anything lasting, will send them scurrying like rats. Thirdly; it is true that my apprentice struck at the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki; but that was for the single reason that I did not expect Konoha to be so reckless that they'd send their jinchuuriki after a supposed Akatsuki defector."

"A defector?" Pein demanded slowly.

"Yes," Naruto admitted. "I set a trap to gain intel on my home village. I expected them to send a team of regular shinobi. Shinobi that would not be the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki and her two teammates. If they had behaved rationally, they would have sent other shinobi, lesser such, which she would have been able to capture. I would have gained information and Konoha would be scrambling as they tried to find out where their shinobi had gone. Yet the Kyuubi's jinchuuriki threw a spanner into the works, as she is wont to do with most things." Naruto told the man, not able to fully suppress the feeling that in a way, this was the truth. Kimiko always threw a spanner into the works. It was what she did... and somehow he could only faintly smile behind the mask.

"Is that admiration I hear in your voice?" Pein asked suddenly, "Pride in your little sister's growth?" Naruto cursed silently as he realized he was slipping.

"My lord," he said now, moving to cover for himself. "This matter has come up before and I feel I should address it in detail. Will you forgive me if I do so?"

"Speak," Pein told him, leaning back in his throne as he stared Naruto down.

"I..." Naruto began, sucking in a low breath before continuing. "I _despise_ my sibling. She is a person who thinks the way to navigate an obstacle is to bang your head against it until it collapses. She was given everything, while I fed off the scraps, and yet she was not content before she had nagged and bullied me into being in her life as well. She is simplistic, selfish, arrogant and quite plainly dumb as a bag of rocks. I can also add entitled, crude, naive to the point of absurdity and gluttonous to the list of traits that drive me up the wall. If anything, I am awed at the fact that this cretinous midget has survived as far as she did rather than impale herself on the ramen-coated chopsticks she jams into her mouth on an hourly basis." He spoke calmly and matter-of-factly, taking care to elaborate in detail on whatever he was able to.

Pein gave up a short, low snicker, little more than a 'heh' but enough that Naruto relaxed. The megalomaniac was laughing, that meant he was in his good graces.

"So you claim no familial affection, or indeed lingering sense of duty?" he asked and Naruto shrugged.

"If I do, it's rendered moot by our cause my lord," he assured the man. "The laws of nature are absolute, and survival of the fittest is one such law. Seeing as how we do not live in a junk food based economy where magical spirits bring good fortune to good little boys and girls my fool sibling will reap the consequences of what her idiocy sows. If those consequences are death; then that is how it is."

"So you say," Pein told him and Naruto shrugged.

"That I do," he replied, "and you will judge if I am truthful, my lord."

"Do not seek to play me Namikaze," Pein replied coldly now, raising his hand towards Naruto. Before Naruto could do anything his body was pulled in, sent flying towards Pein, who caught him by the throat. "You're not as clever as you think," the self-declared second coming of the Sage of six paths said as he clutched Naruto's throat, rising out of his seat and holding Naruto up in the air. Silently cursing, Naruto focused on keeping his breath going and waste a minimum of air. Though his heart was pumping furiously and he felt genuine worry he'd gone too far, he remained as calm as he could.

"You talk and talk," Pein said as he stared straight into Naruto's soul, "twisting like a snake and always coming off free of all blame. Don't think me stupid enough that I don't see it. Your lackey gave us away, and it is pure chance that it coincides with the plans I've laid. I've no reason not to wipe her off the face of the earth." he said before tossing Naruto to the floor and sitting down again. "None bar her pathetic uselessness." Hunching forward in his throne, Pein sat slouching and almost exhausted-looking as he stared down at the sight of Naruto crawling to his feet. "A god does not bother with insects. Were she more important to you, I'd order her death at your hands to teach you a lesson. Your apathy towards her makes that pointless though. But know your place, and keep your pet in line."

"As you command, my lord," Naruto said and made sure to bow deeply. Again he'd escaped death it seemed, yet he felt no joy about it. The man before him was volatile and unpredictable, just as easily being amused and approving of his wit as he lashed out for it, and Naruto had to constantly be on his toes, lest something set the madman off.

"You will go to Water Country," Pein told him now, Naruto tensing up. A little warning ahead of time would have been nice but then again he wasn't working with a nice person. "The three-tailed beast lies sealed away somewhere in that country. You know this, do you not?"

"I should, as I was the one to seal it away." Naruto said, already thinking that this would become a massive headache. So the time had come to go after the Sanbi. Pein wouldn't have brought it up otherwise, and in order to get to the Sanbi one needed the three keys to its container. One of these keys lay in the water temple, one in the safekeeping of the daimyo himself and the last one in Kiri. The three most heavily guarded places in Water Country and he'd have to break into them to retrieve said items... how delightful. Some, small part of him wanted to sarcastically ask if Pein would be okay with him bringing back some some crab dumplings or dried squid instead. Sadly, self-preservation stopped him from asking this.

"Retrieve it," Pein ordered him. "Let the world know the Akatsuki is moving again. My chosen agents will be the ones to spread the word, not some lackey. Leave." The self-declared god ended the conversation and Naruto bowed his head. Gods he hated this man, despised him in nearly every way possible. Yet the mask showed nothing and Naruto did not say anything that could incriminate him. Instead he left the room, sweeping through the Akatsuki base and listening to his footsteps echoing in the hallway.

It was hard to say what he thought about the current state of affairs. He hated that Sakura still was stuck with him, yet she was safe and his distant facade towards her seemed to have made Pein choose to not take out his frustrations on her. Things were starting to heat up, meaning it'd only get harder from now on, yet at the same time this meant they were approaching the endgame, the resolution.

What a situation really. He was stuck with a collection of sociopathic murderers chosen for their strength more than anything else. Yet as he entered the room that had been his destination, he thought to himself that he had at least met one person he actually could call his intellectual kin.

Sasori was sitting by his workbench and, as usual, worked on his puppets. Out of his Hiruko-puppet, Sasori sat in his actual form; that of a young, red-haired man as he was carefully putting a series of screws in place on a puppet Naruto couldn't recall the name of. There was something almost meditative over how his partner was working and Naruto leaned against the doorframe to watch it.

A key difference between him and Naruto, Naruto had realized, was that Sasori did not only not mind the constant, painstaking maintenance his creations required but seemed to outright love it. Naruto preferred to devote his time to something that wouldn't need to be taken apart and put together again on a regular basis and instead keep pushing forward instead of maintaining what had been. Maintenance was a tedious business to him. Yet Sasori seemed to love it... maybe because machines were easier to fix than people.

"Namikaze." Sasori said after a while, not even looking back at him. "Did you want something?"

"Many things," Naruto said, thinking about the last three years and realizing that Sasori was probably the only feature in it that hadn't been a constant source of stress and bile. While the man had his flaws, and flaws he had aplenty, he was nevertheless brilliant enough that it was a joy to talk with him. "What I don't want is why I am here however. We're going to Water Country, apparently. The time has come to retrieve the Sanbi."

Sasori stopped screwing for a moment, raising his head in surprise before looking down again and continuing to work. "I see," he said with his voice betraying the small smile that no doubt was creeping up on his face. "Interesting. I understand the Sanbi was sealed away during your tenure in Kiri, is that correct?"

"Quite." Naruto wasn't surprised Sasori knew about this. "Locked away behind a seal that needs three locks that rest with the daimyo, high priest of the water temple and Mizukage respectively. Sounds fun?"

"A challenge to be sure," Sasori said as he finished fastening the screw of his puppet and stood up, looking back at Naruto with a wry smirk. "I would ask if you had a way to replicate the keys, but I doubt you'd have told me we were doing this if you did."

"Pretty much," Naruto said. "Your puppets are waterproof I take it?" he asked dryly.

"You think me that much of a hack?" Sasori said as he took his Akatsuki robe and donned it with a deft movement. "They last through whatever they need," he said as he flicked his fingers and called the hunchbacked Hiruko-puppet to his side, which he crawled into.

"Considering your obsession with slenderizing everything, I would not call you a hack as much as... sacrificing for your art," Naruto shrugged.

"The master of bloating has spoken," Sasori said as he walked out of the room, his voice was now warped by the puppet. "As much as your inefficient obsession with minutia is endearing I do not plan on designing my puppets to be fifty meters tall and heavy enough to fall apart under their own weight."

"Certainly, because failsafes are for people who aren't perfect in all ways," Naruto said sarcastically, smiling under his mask as he fell in beside Sasori. Their design beliefs were a constant point of contention, albeit a relatively friendly such. Sasori was obsessed with efficiency and elegance. He believed that perfection had been created when nothing could be removed, not when nothing could be added. To Naruto that thinking was simplistic. It might work for simple machinery or seals but when you had complex things like the seal he had trapped the Sanbi in you needed to build in failsafes and redundancies, otherwise a single, minute failure would make it all fall apart. They'd probably be tearing at each other over this until old age he thought as they walked down the hallway.

Being in the Akatsuki was still strange. They traveled lightly, keeping what they needed in storage seals on their persons at all times. When Pein ordered you to move out, you moved out in that very moment. A part of his narcissistic personality, Naruto supposed. To see his servants move out instantly instead of waiting until the next day fed into his sense of supreme control.

Speaking of narcissistic god-complex... Naruto slammed a hand onto Sakura's door as they walked past it, making the girl come out of the room within seconds.

"Ready yourself, we're leaving," he told her, noting how Sasori gave him a dry glare.

"Are we really bringing her along?" he asked impatiently.

"Considering our beloved leader's most recent divine proclamation I am compelled to," Naruto replied. He wasn't leaving her alone with that madman, not after the man's episode just now. Sasori grunted again, not being overly enthusiastic about this evidently.

Sakura came out of her room now, having gotten all that she needed, and swept a cloak around her. Not an Akatsuki cloak, Naruto didn't have the audacity to have his "lackey" dress in what Pein considered to be a great honor to wear. He'd most likely snap her head off in punishment for her "sacrilege"(or whatever he'd call it). Therefore her robe was plain black as to not anger the beloved leader. He began to walk again with Sakura following silently behind him. As he did so, he wondered if she'd reached any conclusions on the topic they'd discussed but didn't press it. Mainly due to being preoccupied with trying to figure out just how he was going to be able to retrieve the three keys to the Sanbi's prison. The Daimyo wouldn't be too much of an issue, the Water Temple could work out if they were subtle, but the key that rested in Kirigakure, with Mei, would be a greater challenge.

Damn it. Why Water Country of all places? He did not want to see Mei again. Or rather he did, which was why he didn't want to. It had been a constant source of frustration and sorrow to think of her these last three years; how she must feel about him now, how she was doing, what she'd done since he last saw her. What little he'd heard had not improved his mood either. Mei had severed contact with Konoha and was in a cold war with them; stating Minato's treatment of a friend of Kiri as the reason for her actions.

Wasn't that a beautiful mess? Naruto didn't dare to imagine what she'd do when she found out it was all a set-up, a ploy to get someone on the inside of the Akatsuki? Naruto could imagine entire islands being among the casualties when she found out how she'd been duped. As for him? He wondered if she'd be able to forgive him.

He shouldn't be wasting time thinking about this; he needed to focus on the task at hand. With Sakura and Sasori on his side he should have all he needed to pull this off. He had grown in these three years and knew Kiri decently enough. They'd manage it.


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter 3

-xxxxxx-

A small inn in the middle of nowhere became their first stop after having travelled for the entire day as well as the night. Making good progress, Naruto had decided to stop for a couple of hours to enjoy some food and rest. Sasori hadn't been happy with the idea but Naruto had simply gone inside without even looking back. Either Sasori proceeded alone or he followed Naruto's lead. Childish, maybe, but effective, and Sasori had entered as well.

Their outfits let them eat without being disturbed. The hunchback and the masked man in red-clouded outfits were intimidating enough that none went close to their table. Hardly even the waitress dared approach but had done so after realizing she'd draw more of their attention by refusing to serve them. Silently, they could enjoy the meal and Naruto thought to himself that it was a surprisingly competent meal they had been served. For being an inn in the middle of nowhere, the food was quite excellent. The curry had just the right level of savory spiciness to tickle the tongue but not so that it took over and the meat almost melted in the mouth.

"Girl," Sasori said after a while, addressing Sakura and making Naruto look up at his colleague. Sakura did so as well and Sasori nodded towards the waitress. "Bring the waitress over here. No words or gestures. One thread only," he demanded. Sakura looked towards the waitress, hesitating. "Use small commands only," Sasori ordered her "you'll burn out her nerves if you push too hard."

"I understand," Sakura said with a low, distant voice. She was like that with Sasori, he'd noticed. Whereas she could seem like a trembling leaf around her master, she was mindful of showing any emotions at all around the puppet master. Putting down her chopsticks, she put her hands together, clasping them with one finger out. She took a breath to focus and in the next instant the eyes of the currently dishes-picking waitress glazed over.

"Move her," Sasori ordered, Sakura furrowing her brow slightly as the waitress turned around sharply, her arms hanging limply by her side. Like a zombie she walked, or rather shambled, toward them. "Keep her movements natural," Sasori growled lowly. "Humans do not walk like that." Nodding, Sakura did her best to adjust as the woman began to lift her feet more and gained a slight sway in her step. Naruto thought that she still seemed like she was half paralyzed though admittedly that was a step up from corpse. Sakura had only manipulated corpses in this way before and there was no need to watch for permanent nerve damage when your puppet already was dead. This was a whole different level and at the very least Sakura hadn't been too rough yet.

Still shambling but at least looking semi-alive, the dead-eyed waitress came over to their table and stood there silently. Sasori motioned for Sakura to release her and Sakura obeyed, the life returning to the waitress' eyes in an instant. She gasped as she realized where she stood, sudden shock filling her face.

"Could I have some more water?" Sasori asked, nodding towards his glass. The waitress, who seemed ready to bolt, remembered her manners at least and smiled stiffly.

"O-of course," she said, picking up the glass as if she expected it to burn her.

"Also," Naruto added, making the waitress flinch again "Might I ask you to pass on my compliments to the chef. This is delicious." The young woman bowed slightly at Naruto now.

"I... I will do that," she said before fleeing. Sasori chuckled darkly at her fear.

"Adequate," he told Sakura. "You will keep practicing. When we return from Kiri you'll be skilled enough with this to move a person inconspicuously."

"Yes, master Sasori," Sakura said as she bowed her head towards Sasori. Naruto, meanwhile, smiled slightly to himself as he took another spoonful of curry. What a situation, really. For all his haughtiness and his aloof attitude, Sasori certainly had taken to educating Sakura in his arts. It seemed Sakura's subdued manners and sharp mind had drawn the puppet-master in. Naruto wasn't quite sure if it had initially been a desire to meddle with his apprentice or a genuine desire to teach that had driven Sasori. What he did know was that the puppeteer didn't stop in his teaching.

As they finished up the meal and the time had come to pay, Naruto put down his chopsticks and made a gesture for the waitress, doing it firmly enough that she didn't have any choice but to acknowledge it. The poor girl looked near fainting and Naruto decided to get it over with. Putting down the twenty Ryo for the meals, he added an additional ten.

"For the excellent meal," he said, smirking slightly under the mask as he saw how the woman stared at the extremely generous tip. "It was unexpected to find such an able cook at this place. Please inform the proprietor that he needs to take care not to lose this asset. It would be a great loss for him if that would come to pass."

"Uh... I... of course, thank you for your patronage" She said as she bowed to them, hesitating before continuing, "and... and please come again." It was clear that she didn't know what to think right now and though she'd probably arrive at preferring they didn't show up again

"We just might," Naruto said as they departed. "We'll see if our roads take us past here again." With that, they left the inn behind and began walking down the road again.

"What was the point of that?" Sasori asked as they walked away from the inn. "You just spent ten Ryo on pointless trivialities in the middle of nowhere."

"I'd hardly call it pointless," Naruto replied evenly. "The food was excellent, that's something that should be rewarded."

"Rewarding peons for doing their job?" the puppet-master asked. "What's next, commending beggars on their begging techniques?"

"Should I perhaps instead copy Hidan and Kakuzu; refuse to pay and bend the woman over the table to carve her up for the glory of Jashin? Or maybe Deidara and Kisame; blow the building up and flay the staff and patrons alive? To be less snide, we've both chafed in a world that doesn't pay due respects to us for our brilliance. If I did not acknowledge and praised skill when I saw it I would be a hypocrite. Hypocrisy is for lesser men, men who want to receive but not give. For every action..."

"...there is an equal and opposite reaction, I know." Sasori drawled.

"Exactly, so I don't see why I shouldn't emulate that idea in my outlook as well," Naruto said mildly. "I am a greater man than most. Yet brilliance carries its obligations as well as its rewards. The higher you've climbed the further you fall and all that."

"I've heard of holistic world views but that takes the cake," Sasori replied. "So because you're more intelligent than the peons, you should take a mollycoddling stance towards them, like someone would towards a child? Should you avoid killing butterflies since it might cause hurricanes in the southern seas as well? How far does this holism reach? Besides: respect is earned, not granted, and cooking a good meal doesn't elevate anyone."

"I beg to differ," his masked comrade insisted. "Every person is born into different circumstances, and even if everyone was brilliant there will still need to be people performing menial tasks. True, in the grand scheme their role are little more than forming the foundation upon which great people can rise, but I don't feel like they should be belittled for that."

"The payment for the meal was plenty enough of a reward," Sasori objected. "You hold no responsibility to stoke their mediocrity, and indulging them leads to complacency. Before long they'll view your rewards as expected and if you withhold them they'll despise you for robbing them of what they think is their right. Great men know to make rewards fuel for further brilliance, mediocre people let it fuel their entitlement."

"Then that's their choice," Naruto shrugged. "I don't plan to let that affect me; that'd be surrendering control of my actions to those who are my lessers. And who knows? Maybe the cook in there is a young hopeful, one stuck at this place and uncertain if he truly is that good. Such a generous tip might just spur him on and lead to the start of a great culinary career."

"What's with this obsession with bringing out the best in every peon you stumble across?" Sasori asked now, his voice holding not spite but curiosity. "Their lives are pointless in the grand scheme of things. That cook will prepare meals and people will enjoy it for the moment but forget it after a day or two. He'll leave no imprint on the world and die, fading away to be forgotten within a decade. Moving him one step out of a thousand closer to excellence changes nothing. If anything it is a distraction from your own works and your own struggle. Do you hope that your footprint in the world will be carried through these peons?"

"Who's obsessed?" Naruto asked mildly. He remembered how Guren once had told him a tale of two monks, one of which had helped a young woman over a lake despite their vows to not touch women and the other having berated him for it. The moral was strikingly similar. "I've left that cook behind, you still carry him."

"Are you quoting religious fables at me?" Sasori asked with a voice as dry as desert sand. "Seriously?" Naruto smiled behind the mask. This was fun. "I've put up with your ranting," the puppeteer continued, "answer my question."

"I just did. True, undue rewards can create entitlement but I don't see why that should make me refuse to give anything to anyone. Are you saying generosity is immoral? Because if so: A baby is a screaming, useless bag of flesh that regularly soils itself, but no sane person would claim it shouldn't be given care, feeding and nurturing for years. Is the child immoral for that? Or a parasite? Obviously not, that'd be cretinous to claim."

"I claim it's pointless," Sasori said. "You're free to mollycoddle whomsoever you please because there is no such thing as inherent right or wrong. In the end the strong do what they wish and the weak suffer what they must. Indulging them seems perverse."

"The weak can still spit in my curry," Naruto pointed out. "Also it's called social lubricant. Behaving pleasantly makes people more predisposed to behaving pleasantly. It's a neurochemical fact that people who are abused have stress hormones and defensive reactions triggered which makes them all the more difficult to deal with. Conversely, being treated well relaxes people and makes them more agreeable, or pliable to my own interests if you so will. So while it is no puppetering I am de facto slightly controlling their minds through my own actions."

"And an inn in the middle of nowhere was worth ten Ryo?"

"It's not my Ryo," Naruto shrugged. "And if Kakuzu wants to complain he's free to do so. I shut it out, like I do most of that greedy old zombie's blathering. In the end; why not? If mediocrity is all that cook will ever achieve, and I contest that it was mediocre as the curry was excellent, then at least let them excel in mediocrity. And if I can spur them on to that through a pat on the head and someone else's money, why not? I doubt he will become a entitled and arrogant from one tip."

"With all this altruistic reasoning I'm surprised you didn't become a teacher, or a priest. Being so dead-set on helping others, yet you devoted yourself to abstract sciences."

"It's a hobby, not a calling," Naruto explained. "If, for instance, the cook had asked me to escort him somewhere I would have told him to get lost. Again, I wish for due recognition so why not give it? The curry was great, beyond what could reasonably be expected, so I rewarded it for that."

"I tasted it as well," Sasori pointed out. "And I found it mediocre at best."

"Oh?" Naruto asked. "What curry is the gold standard for you, then?" he asked, changing track, "It seems you came in with very high standards."

"I suppose that's the case," Sasori muttered. "I have not had that curry for a long time, and fond memories becomes even more gilded with time."

"Indeed they can," Naruto sighed. "The years before the Kyuubi came to Konoha seems in my mind like a distant paradise. I wanted for nothing, was given endless affection by my parents and indeed, I had a little sister on the way. The world was a good place for seven-year-old me. Looking back, I can't even say that I recognize that person." This was a calculated risk he took. Speaking of one's past wasn't something done lightly in the Akatsuki. Everyone was guarded against everyone else and even between Sasori and Naruto, who were the closest thing to 'friends' that existed in the organization, little of this type of information was exchanged, even after three years together.

"Hmh..." Sasori said, being quiet at first, but eventually speaking up. "The world is never as cruel as when the innocent loses everything. That is a pain I know well. It hardened me though. Gave me strength to excel."

"Sink or swim," Naruto commented softly.

"Indeed, now stop trying to bait me into telling you of my past. I've given more than I'm inclined to." Naruto couldn't disagree with that. That was more than he'd gotten out of Sasori in the last three years. Deciding to not push his luck, he instead chose to be quiet and let them walk in silence with only the song of the birds and their footsteps to fill his ears.

-xxxxxx-

The crash that resounded through the air interrupted several hours of silent walking, making the three all stop and look around them as they tried to pinpoint the origin of the sound. It wasn't long before it was followed by other sounds, most predominantly explosions.

"Someone's having fun," Naruto remarked as the explosions came closer and a wild laughter could be heard over it. Sasori groaned.

"And I presume you're going to want to meet them?" he asked dryly, Naruto looking to him.

"That is something I admire greatly in you Sasori-dono," he said mildly. "Your exquisite talent for deduction."

"Put a sock in it and let's get this over with," Sasori growled, "the less time I spend in the company of those nitwits the better." He had barely finished that sentence as an explosion ripped the trees on the left side of the road about two hundred meters away to pieces.

Out of the smoke a figure came flying, landing on the road limply. Naruto folded his arms as he watched a familiar figure come out of the smoke after the man, running at a full pelt and with a shrieking, hysteric laughter. Hidan was having the time of his life, it seemed, and the man he was charging leaped to his feet only to have Hidan's scythe lash out at him, drawing a few drops of blood.

"Gotcha!" Hidan yelled gleefully as the man got some distance between himself and the madman.

"It'll take more than a scratch to knock me out!" the man yelled, Naruto recognizing him now. How amusing. It was the former Shinobi Guardsman Kazuma. Naruto had thought the man dead after his failed coup against Minato. It seemed he'd slipped away only to be cornered by two of the most unpleasant people in the elemental nations. Hidan only laughed even more, stopping and instead of charging again pulling down his coat to bare his chest as he leaned down and drew the seal of Jashin on the ground. Naruto nodded to himself, Kazuma was a dead man already.

Hidan's ability was strange to say the least he thought as the man's skin turned black and white. Strange and vaguely obscene. The way he could inflict damage on himself and have the enemy suffer the exact same injury was unlike anything he'd seen before, yet the man's obscene glee at wreaking havoc was all too familiar and all too disgusting for Naruto to find anything even vaguely tolerable about the zealot. Stabbing himself in the heart, Hidan brought Kazuma to his knees, the man spitting up blood as Hidan hyperventilated with joy. The former shinobi guardsman fell forwards, dead as a doornail, as Kakuzu came out of the woods as well, having stayed back.

"Are you done creaming your pants? Can we get going or must you jack off some more?" the ancient mercenary asked his partner as Hidan stood on his knees, the orgasmic ecstasy having come and gone, leaving only relaxed bliss for the man. Hidan looked up to Kakuzu now, his voice calm as he responded.

"You know these things take their time Kakuzu," he said placidly, sounding almost like a monk that had reached enlightenment. Somehow the man was even more repulsive in this state. This combination of murder, masochism and death-worship gave him such a rush that in its wake he seemed like he had found the highest truth, like he was at peace. The man was just so... perverse for it. "I wish you'd show more understanding for my faith. Maybe it could give you solace where your money doesn't." He made Naruto's skin crawl! In the wake of his obscene, masturbatory murder he sounded like one of the priests Guren had gone to talk to to find guidance, people who tried to live in harmony with the world.

"The more you keep yammering on about that the less interested I become," Kakuzu drawled, Naruto thinking about how Kakuzu was only marginally more tolerable. A man given seeming immortality as well as an astonishing ability to combine elemental jutsu that bordered on kekkei genkai, the old corpse was nevertheless obsessed with one thing only: money. He had eternity, and he spent it trying to earn as much money as he could through bounty hunting.

Two repulsive peas in a pod really. Naruto raised his hands now and began to clap as he slowly approached them, Sasori following him. Hidan and Kakuzu both looked towards him now, neither of their faces seeming overly pleased at coming across him.

"Oh great," Hidan drawled, having been brought out of his orgasm-induced tranquillity, "It's the nerds."

"Still only using monosyllabic words I hear, Hidan-san," Naruto said mildly with faux politeness. "Do not worry, I am sure you'll step up to two syllables any day now." The furrow that appeared on Hidan's brow made Naruto smirk under the mask. Good. The less at peace this perverse lust-murderer was the better. Yes he was being spiteful; he hated the man.

"What are you doing here?" Sasori asked, "You're supposed to be in Kumo. Do I need to shove a compass into your skulls for you to go where you're supposed to?"

"You're welcome to try, doll-boy," Kakuzu growled, his hand clenching at his side. Not from anger, but rather agitation. "Also; we're hunting this mark to help the organization's economy. I don't see you digging your head out of your puppets' ass for five seconds to help out," he drawled, his eyes nevertheless going to Naruto.

"Of course you are," Naruto said dismissively as he walked up to the now dead Kazuma and looked him over. Dead as a doornail. He did notice the metal claws strapped to the man's wrist as well as the monk staff that had fallen to the ground next to him. "Interesting..." he said as he relieved the corpse of them and tucked them away.

"Hey, hands off my mark," Kakuzu told him sharply as Naruto did so, Naruto only looking to the man.

"You are, I presume, getting paid for the corpse, not for his tools," he replied placidly. "Speaking of tools..." he added after a second, stepping closer to Kakuzu. At this distance Naruto could see the signs clearly. The bloodshot eyes, the faint shivers that went through him... perfect. "I trust the performance enhancers I gave you have served their purpose?" he asked with a quiet voice so as to not be overheard, Kakuzu grunting.

"They did," the immortal bounty hunter said, his voice composed still. "I'm going to need more."

"Naturally," Naruto said as he slipped a hand into the sleeve of his coat and pulled out a small bottle of pills which he handed to the man. "If you feel they aren't working as well as they do, feel free to moderately increase the dosage."

"I know how drugs work," Kakuzu growled as he slipped it into his own sleeve. "Just make sure to have more produced."

"That, sadly, will be problematic," Naruto said and saw how Kakuzu instantly tensed up. "See, since those enhancers are tailor-made for you, it's not like making rice cakes. I can produce more, but I'll need to acquire components. Expensive components," he he added meaningfully, Kakuzu's glare heated enough to melt steel.

"Don't jerk me around Namikaze," the man growled, "I'm not going to dance to your tune just because you dangle something in front of my eyes."

"If my intent was to make you "dance", I wouldn't have attempted it after supplying you with another bottle," Naruto said lowly. "My issues with getting hold of components are genuine, and though I find you marginally more bearable than your "comrade", I've no plans on paying for your medication. I am already investing time; the money will need to come from elsewhere."

"Fine, how much do you need?" Kakuzu growled, Naruto noticing how he already was holding the fresh bottle in a tight grip, almost desperately.

"Fifty thousand, at the least," Naruto told him and Kakuzu's eyes opened wide.

"You are attempting to trick me," he hissed and Naruto shook his head.

"As I said I am not making rice cakes," he said lowly but with clenched teeth. "If you've got a stockpile of 4-Hydroxy-3-methoxybenzaldehyde lying around I'll gladly take it. If you don't, I'll have to ask that you give me money to keep the medication coming."

"Fine!" Kakuzu hissed, growing more and more agitated. "You'll have the money as soon as I've handed in this bounty. Just get me more of this!"

"I will," Naruto assured him. "Like you, I look to the greater good unlike some people. You getting this is part of that greater good."

"Whatever," Kakuzu said as he walked away to get the corpse. Naruto smirked as he looked after the man, satisfied with the results to say the least. By the corpse Hidan was back on his feet, having donned his coat properly and looked towards Naruto, eyes narrowed in suspicion. He leaned in at Naruto, staring into his eyes.

"Hey Nerduto," he asked and Naruto instantly was reminded of yet another reason why he hated the man. That nickname was a top tier contender in the 'things that pissed him off' category. "What exactly are you and Kakuzu cooking up? I don't like seeing you skulk around like that. You're up to something and I plan to find out what." Naruto didn't say anything, instead reached up and quickly yanked a few strands of hair off his head, causing Hidan to yelp in pain and back off. "What the hell are you doing!?"

"Taking samples," Naruto told him as he slipped the hair into a small test tube. "Was there something else, or did you just want to show off your immense wit?" he asked the man before he began to walk again, not caring to give Hidan a chance to respond.

"Hey, screw you, nerd!" the man yelled after him and Naruto smirked. As petty as it was, it still satisfied him deeply to rob the man of his peace of mind. Sasori and Sakura stood further away, Sasori glaring sourly at him.

"Are we done here?" he asked acerbically, "I can feel my brain cells leaking out of my ears the longer I have to stand around these idiots."

"Quite done, yes," Naruto smirked as he put away the small test tube inside his coat. "We can go now." Sasori grunted and they left without as much as a farewell to their partners. They were not in the Akatsuki to be chummy with each other, no matter what Kisame might have behaved like after Naruto had been recruited three years ago. And even if it would have been, their colleagues were overall much too unpleasant for that to have any realistic chance of happening.

"So tell me," Sasori asked after a while, "What's the agenda behind you getting Kakuzu addicted to your product?"

"An interesting position on responsibility you're taking there Sasori-dono," Naruto said mildly, "Going back to what we spoke of earlier, would you not say the onus for any eventual addictions is on the user?"

"Stop trying to equivocate yourself out of the question," Sasori told him dryly. "Kakuzu is letting his arrogance get the best of him; you'll have him a desperate slave to whatever you're feeding him before long. As amusing as it is to watch, I doubt you're doing it just for that."

"It improves his performance, doesn't it?" Naruto asked rhetorically. "What other use does the organization have for that old corpse? We're entering the end-game before long. All we need is for him to perform until our current goals are met. Really, isn't it a more glorious end for him to burn out than to fade away?" Naruto asked, his voice utterly ice cold as he said this.

"Seems Kakuzu is not the only one who's become arrogant," Sasori snorted.

"You can have his corpse when he's dead if you'd like," Naruto offered his colleague. "As long as I can take some tissue samples, I think you'd be the the one who could get the most mileage out of him."

"Now you have my attention," Sasori admitted. "Might I ask how this rhymes with that tiresome altruism you insisted on back at the inn?"

"I don't see the conflict," Naruto asked evenly, "I help him reach his full potential, do I not? It's just that on the course he's currently set being made into a puppet seems like the most utilitarian option." Sasori didn't respond, at least not with words. The dark chuckle that came from him was answer enough on what he thought about it.

-xxxxxx-

Kimiko sat by the table in her little apartment, having just poured some water into a ramen cup and was listlessly staring at it, feeling the smell rise from it and breathing in through her nose. Her arms were folded on the table in front of her and she was resting her head on them absently watching the cup with distant eyes. She was currently a million miles away, the ramen cup having before her inner eye turned to another table in another room, the small text on the lid having floated out to become the outline of papers scattered over the table and the colours of the painting of a ramen bowl helping her imagination create the outline of a figure sitting leaned over the table. The pale colour of the bowl became the skin and the pink broth (shrimp ramen) became the hair

" _Come on Kimiko, you know this,"_ she seemed to say, Kimiko biting on her lower lip as she felt her eyes mist up. Shaking her head, she sat up and wiped her eyes. It had been three years by now, yet she still wanted those days back as much as she ever had. Whoever said that time healed all wounds was a big, fat liar. Whatever healing she'd gotten had un-healed by what had happened in Tanzaku Gai and she still was trying to process it.

Sakura... her old friend, the brain that had bailed her out so many times, the brilliant girl who always had known what the answer was. She missed her so much! At this point she wasn't even sure what hurt the most any more, losing her brother or her friend to those Akatsuki crazies. She did know that one of the things that hurt the most was the stupid, stupid jealousy she'd felt towards Sakura.

Looking back on it, it had made sense. Of course oniisan would have taken Sakura as an apprentice and of course Sakura would have been a super-awesome one. She was dead smart, almost as smart as oniisan, and she couldn't imagine that they wouldn't have made a super teacher-student team. Yet Kimiko... like the stupid, stupid idiot she'd been, had been jealous of how Sakura had gotten all Naruto's attention during the chuunin exams and acted like a massive jerk towards one of her best and oldest friends. That had been the last time they'd talked before Sakura and oniisan had gone to the Akatsuki... She'd begrudged her friend the attention and support of her teacher while wanting oniisan to praise her instead.

Was it strange that Sakura had questioned their friendship? Maybe she really had taken that friendship for granted. The thought that that might be the case made her queasy. She didn't want to have used Sakura, that it all would have been her fault in the end. Biting down on her lips again, Kimiko felt her eyes mist up once more at the thought.

Damn it, she had made herself ramen to cheer herself up, not end up sniffling like this she thought as she turned her face down into the arms and grimaced silently, trying to hold back the sobs.

-xxxxxx-

Two of the keys out of the way Naruto thought as they moved through the mangrove swamps of Water Country, keeping out of sight as much as they could. There was no need to tempt fate, after all. As had been expected, the retrieval of the first two keys had been a piece of cake. An enthralled monk here, a nighttime visit there and neither the temple, nor the Daimyo were any wiser of the thefts.

"When we reach Kiri, how do we proceed?" Naruto asked, throwing the question out there for him and Sasori to mull over.

"I puppeteer a couple of shinobi to use for reconnaissance," Sasori said, "When we have a layout along with what you remember we assume their identities and infiltrate. If needed, we cause a distraction before breaching the vault."

"Works for me," Naruto said as they both leapt down into a valley formed between two large mangrove trees by their roots. "I'd prefer a minimum of attention."

"Nostalgic?" Sasori asked dryly.

"Prudent," Naruto corrected him. "I don't know about you, but I don't want Kiri's hunter-nin corps on my tail all the way to the Sanbi's resting place."

"Are you sure they haven't moved it?" Sasori asked as they kept running, Sakura following them a few dozen steps behind.

"Positive," Naruto said. "The keys were given to the temple and Daimyo to build trust. Asking for them back after just a few months would have damaged that trust. I know the Mizukage well enough to know she wouldn't risk losing the Daimyo after my defection caused her to all but declare war on Konoha."

"That's right, you conquered her, did you not?" Sasori asked amusedly. Naruto gritted his teeth, wondering just how the puppeteer had found that out.

"No, she conquered me," he eventually said. He wasn't going to be awkward here. "Her ability is not only found on the battlefield, she's a seductress par excellence. It was a pleasant side benefit of working in this village of blood-soaked cretins."

"Interesting," Sasori remarked. "And unexpected. Was she as able in bed?"

"Are we sixteen years old suddenly?" Naruto asked acerbically. "But yes, immensely such. I presume you're feeling jealous?"

"Whatever soothes your wounded pride," Sasori drawled. "I hope you'll not run off to mount her again this time around."

"Will you be more patient if I let you watch? That certainly would be the only way you'd..." Naruto was unable to finish what he was going to say as right in that moment they were attacked.

Out between the roots around them, from above and even from the puddles on the ground Kiri's masked shinobi came. Silently and swiftly, with bared knives and swords, they struck like a downpour and Naruto was left tearing the Kusanagi out to deflect their blows as best he could. For a few, intensive seconds the clashing of steel was like the sound of hard rain against metal as Naruto was rooted on the spot, unable to escape for the constant barrage of blows.

When it ended, Naruto came to a half with a final twirl of the Kusanagi, standing back to back with Sasori as the ridges of the depression they stood in were lined with masked and heavily armed Kiri shinobi. Right above Naruto stood, with folded arms and a frigid, enraged look in her single visible eye, Terumi Mei.

" _Not good..."_ Naruto thought to himself.


	4. Chapter 4

Chapter 4

-xxxxxx-

While he was not fond of romantic clichés, Mei nevertheless was as beautiful as he remembered her. Even in her angry state and the situation they found themselves, he felt a veritable torrent of emotions and memories pour over him. The memory of her coy smile as she toyed with him, the almost glowing warmth in her eye as she dropped the games and just loved him, the attentive, awake look in it as she listened to him talk, the sultry breathing as they made love, the feeling of her lips and her skin, her scent and the feeling of her embrace.

How were they going to get out of this? Surrounded, outnumbered by Kiri's absolute best and him feeling as much as a lovesick puppy as he ever had? As per bloody usual Mei and his feelings for her refused to be convenient or manageable.

"Terumi Mei, I suppose," Sasori said beside him as the tail of Hiruko held one of the Kiri shinobi in a tight grip, tossing the man away as he spoke. "Fine lines... good skin. You'd make a good puppet. Too many people have imperfect lines that interfere. You'd be almost lifelike."

"There is such a thing as being too dedicated to one's craft Sasori-san," Naruto couldn't help himself but remark. "And maybe discussing raw materials would be better suited for another time?"

"Philistine," Sasori snorted. "Art does not rest."

"As quaint as your little discussion is," Mei said, her voice sending shivers down Naruto's spine. He could tell she was angry. Furious even. "Naruto..." she said, staring him down as an undertone of something else crept into her voice. She looked down at him, straight into his eyes, and Naruto could see the pain in them. "Have you fallen this low?" she asked him, towering high above as she passed her judgement on his actions. "Is this truly what you want? To help this Pein madman?"

"A question that keeps coming up," Naruto said, doing his utmost to affect a calm, apathetic tone. "I would have thought twenty inches of chakra-infused steel through my father's liver would have put this discussion to rest."

"I all but declared war on Konoha because of how they treated you," Mei told him angrily. "I would have thought at least that could have motivated you to seek some other option. If nothing else, then at least that we..." she said, stopping now as her emotions seemed to get the better of her.

"My apologies for the inconvenience," Naruto said, wanting to cut out his tongue at this point, "but simple want is an astonishingly irrelevant factor in all of this. As we are speaking of desires, however, I would like to express my desire for a certain accessory of yours," he spoke evenly, seeing what had become of the third key to the Sanbi's prison. It was currently fastened in Mei's hair, being used as a hair stick to hold together the bun of hair atop her head. A curious but sensible location really, he'd have to get right next to her if he wanted it and he remembered Mei's skill in battle.

"Do you think I'd give it up so easily?" Mei asked him. "I saw the measure of your new friends three years ago, Naruto. I won't give them even a breadcrumb."

"Indeed?" Naruto asked, still struggling to remain calm. "For what reason? Playing nice with Konoha after their abuses? Sacrificing the many for the few? Don't be blinded by idealism here. You have one sealed away beast and one jinchuuriki who already will be a risk due to his association with Namikaze Kimiko. If push comes to shove, you've no guarantees he'll be loyal. Instead see the big picture here. The Akatsuki have no quarrel with Kiri per se and cooperation would be an invaluable trump card if you seek to spare your village from the fate that awaits the others." It was a wonder that he could remain as calm as he did but as he had during the chuunin exams, he realized it was sink or swim with no mistakes allowed.

"Do you remember elder Hida?" Mei asked him now, Naruto having to think for a moment before remembering the man. Of course, that vermin who had lambasted Mei for wanting to earn to Daimyo's favor by sealing away the Sanbi. "I told him something before I threw him out of the chambers that time. The ones who'd prosper from my rule of Kiri would be everyone, not just those who I found convenient."

"Is that a no, then?" Naruto asked, letting out a silent breath he'd been holding. It was in the end silly of him to doubt her. He knew all this logically but in the place he was now paranoia and doubt was too common for him to be able to relax, to trust. Mei breathed in now, as if she was about to sigh in resignation. What came was not an expulsion of air, however, but burning mist as the Mizukage suddenly exhaled a massive cloud of acid smoke towards them.

The two Akatsuki members ended up leaping to the sides to avoid the cloud of acid poison only to be charged by the Kiri shinobi again. Naruto, however, didn't get much in the way of respite as someone came from the side just as he landed on the far end of the ridge. He twisted, parrying the attack only to find himself slammed backwards by the massive, hammer-like blade that struck him. Chojuro was here too he saw as the sole remaining Kiri swordsman pushed at him and almost drove him straight into the ground with enough force to create a crater in the ground. If he did not know how to meld into the earth that would have been unpleasant indeed he realized as he moved amidst the soil. Coming out of the ground behind Chojuro, he struck for the boy's spine only to be parried.

"Impressive," he said, for the first time being honest in this entire debacle. Chojuro met his gaze with his own glare. There was no doubt there any longer, no hesitation, only pure steel. This boy had grown well, it seemed.

"I had a good teacher," Chojuro hissed at him, his voice holding absolutely nothing of the terrified, scared little boy he remembered. How pleasant to see really, despite the situation. Having had his doubts about Chojuro, Naruto wasn't above admitting that he had been proven wrong by Kiri's young swordsman. He just felt the situation had been much easier to feel delighted by if said young man wasn't trying to decapitate him.

"I hope you're ready for your finals then," Naruto said lowly before unleashing a rapid succession of twelve blows towards Chojuro, each enough to take him out of the battle, had the boy not parried them all by transforming his sword into a shield-shape before stabbing forward and shaping the chakra into a spear that shot straight at Naruto, who vaulted over it. Delightful and frustrating; the boy could pretty much shape the sword into whatever he wanted. Another thing he'd love to study in detail yet which was trying to kill him. What more, as he landed Ao and Tsurugi came at him from the sides, going in low as they stabbed towards his sides in perfect synchronization. They were fast, faster than he remembered the two old dogs. Their long, curved daggers bit into his sides right before it turned out they had stabbed into a root and Naruto reappeared in the air above them.

"Seems like old dogs do learn new tricks," he remarked as he struck downwards right before a vicious kick forced him to retreat again as Mei had come after him again. She didn't say anything now, only came at him with her visible eye locked into a frown of pure ice. She exhaled again now, sending a torrent of lava towards him and Naruto felt the heat him like a battering ram. As he tried to fall back he was stymied by Chojuro, who smashed the Hiramekarei into the tree above him and sent the trunk crashing down behind him. In the same moment Ao and Tsurugi came soaring above him and sent two torrents of water down into the lava, making parts of it instantly solidify and creating a detonation of boiling hot steam as the lava flood kept going, crashing into the tree and solidify thanks to the water. In instants, they'd created a massive dome of solid rock, filled with boiling steam and sealed against the titanic trunk of a fallen tree.

The four Kiri shinobi all landed further away, looking at the massive mound of volcanic stone that now rested against the trunk. Mei landed with her face still frozen in icy anger, Ao and Tsurugi both flanked Mei with their daggers in hand and Chojuro landed in front of her, the young man panting after the brief but intense exchange.

"Did we get him?" Chojuro asked as he watched the mountain of stone, both hands on his sword. Mei didn't say anything in reply to her young subordinate's question. Ao, however, narrowed his eyes.

"No," he said grimly. "It's only starting..." he added right before a blinding explosion of seemingly pure blue light tore the stone mountain apart along with the trunk. The Kiri shinobi threw up their hands to shield themselves as debris came flying past them along with a blast of wind enough to almost knock them prone. The deafening roar of debris, explosion and rushing wind lasted for nearly twenty seconds before it started to peter off and they could lower their arms again.

Nothing remained of the solidified lava other than a smoking crater now. It was hard to see anything of what was in it thanks to the dust and smoke that swirled around in it, yet through the rapidly fading background noise of falling debris the sound of clapping came. Slowly, the masked Akatsuki-member they once had called a friend came walking out of the debris, clapping his hands as he approached. There were few, if indeed any, signs on him of damage or even wear.

"Excellent performance..." he said calmly as he walked towards them, stopping about twenty meters away. "Mostly excellent," he corrected himself after a second. "Adequate, one might say." Mei narrowed her eyes now, teeth gritted as she inhaled and blew another massive gust of acidic mist at him. This time Naruto didn't dodge however. Instead he merely raised his hand, holding the palm towards the incoming cloud of death and speaking a single word the instant it reached him. "Kai."

No loud exclamation or explosion came this time. The acid cloud merely... unraveled. In instants, it fell apart like a cloud of dust, whipped away by the wind, or mist dispelled by sunlight. A single, calm word had been all that had been needed and though the ground in front of Naruto was devastated the destruction stopped right in front of him. Flexing his fingers, Naruto slowly lowered his hand.

"If you plan to beat me, you need to do better than that," he said with a low, impassive voice. "Those tepid Jutsu you fling around won't scratch me. Try it if you must, but every last move you make is a testament to your inferiority." He spoke with a cold, harsh tone as he said this, Mei's teeth clenching in anger before she leaped at him, Ao and Tsurugi shooting after their mistress to try to aid her. The rage on the Mizukage's face was palpable and it was all the two old wolves of Kiri could do to rush after her, put pressure on Naruto so he wouldn't be able to exploit her anger.

Chojuro was just about to leap after them as well, having delayed only for a heartbeat to transform his sword, but a whisper made him stop. He almost didn't pick it up but in a split-second lull in the fighting he heard it come from behind him.

"Chojuro..." the whisper came from a voice that was strained, quivering and weak but above all else familiar. The young swordsman ended up looking backwards in shock, eyes widening upon seeing the sight of Sakura, leaning against a tree and shivering. She was so pale! She seemed almost like she was dying. Her eyes were misty with tears and she stumbled as she walked. One had reached out towards him as her lips formed a desperate please. "Help me..." Sakura whispered before falling forward. It was all Chojuro could do to catch her.

Meanwhile, Mei shrieked in anger and grief as she launched another torrent of lava at him, Naruto annihilating the attack while at the same time lashing out to drive both Ao and Tsurugi off him with the help of his sword. The four shinobi created a deadly whirlwind of steel and jutsu as they dashed back and forth among the trees. Further away Sasori and his puppets were creating their own tornado of death and destruction together with the Kiri shinobi that had thrown themselves at him. Chaos and death were the only ones to gain anything as the fighting kept going for several minutes.

It was as Mei was thrown back from Naruto for a moment that Chojuro stepped up beside her, sword raised again. She looked to him for a split-second and wondered where he had been even if the situation did not allow interrogating him over it. Instead she looked ahead again, crying out "Let's go Chojuro!" as she charged Naruto again with her swordsman at her back.

Seconds later he was not at her back, but stabbing it. The Hiramekarei transformed into a hammer as Chojuro swung at her, striking her from behind mid-charge and leaving her crashing limply into the ground. Vaulting over his Kage, the dead-eyed Chojuro snatched the key from her hair mid-vault and landed with his hand pulled back to throw it the direction from whence they'd come. There, it was caught by Sakura in one hand, the other held out with the chakra wires connected to Chojuro gleaming around it.

The brutal take-down of the Kage made Ao and Tsurugi both lose the initiative with which they'd been pushing against Naruto. Shock and outrage was visible on their faces as Naruto seized the abandoned initiative and slammed his hand into the ground to create a shockwave that tore the earth all around them apart and threw up a massive cloud of smoke.

"Ao!" Tsurugi yelled, trying to seize back the initiative and Ao called out in response.

"On it!" he said as he looked around. He activated the hidden Byakugan to track Naruto only to find the man coming at him out of the dust before the eye had even found him.

"No," Naruto told him, slamming his hand against the man's face and slamming Ao into the ground. Letting go of Ao's face as black seals began to form on it, Naruto instant-moved away and landed by Sakura. "Sasori!" he yelled, the puppet-master lashing out with his puppets further away and disappearing in a blur of motion. As his partner landed, Naruto rose up and took the key from Sakura. Holding it up, he looked towards the Kiri shinobi around him, many of them dashing at them in desperation to try to stop them. "Behold the cost of your high principles," he said before Sakura's tore her hand downwards, severing the threads by which she'd bound Chojuro and throwing both hands to the side. As smoke bombs exploded all around them people cried out in surprise and frustration.

When the smoke cleared the Akatsuki members were nowhere to be seen.

-xxxxxx-

It was a tiny island out in the middle of nowhere, an islet more than anything else. It was small, barren of life, barring the barnacles clinging to the rock where the water surged and withdrew and a couple of seabirds standing high atop the cliff. It was a small world of nothingness, of gray rocks and only the crashing of the sea. Yet it was also the place they sought. The two Akatsuki agents looked in silence at it where they stood atop the waves, Sasori's tail swishing slowly behind him as he spoke.

"A good hiding place," he admitted to his companion. "I doubt anyone but birds have ever set foot here apart from you."

"Attention to detail is everything," Naruto said lightly while in truth still being angry and saddened by what had transpired. He hadn't wanted to see Mei again, not in this context, and he was pretty sure that a whole lot of good Kiri shinobi had died back there. Sasori was not one to hold back, after all, and Naruto wondered just what Mei would say now if he even survived this. Would she hate him for how he indirectly had cost her good men and women? Or why not the fact that he was part of the deception that had moved Kiri around like one pawn of many, all for some distant goal that just seemed more idiotic the longer he stayed with these psychopaths.

What was he even doing?

"Don't drag me into that asinine argument again," Sasori told him and Naruto forced himself to shrug, remembering where he was.

"I wasn't planning to," he told his companion mildly, "You seem to be plenty obsessed with it on your own."

"Are you hoping I'll bite, or are you just being tedious for the sake of tedium?" Sasori growled as they walked towards the island and reached the shore.

"Yes," Naruto replied succinctly as he walked up to a cliff and placed his hand against it, closing his eyes to focus. While Sasori did not say anything Naruto nevertheless smiled to himself. He could almost feel Sasori's glare in the back of his neck and that gave him enjoyment. Even now, in this position he was in, there was some amusement to be had from baiting the puppeteer. Pushing against the wall, he found the seal he was looking for and opened it, leaving the cave wall to fall to the side and slowly reveal the their goal, the large, ceramic urn that held the Sanbi inside of it. It rested deep in the cave, surrounded by several layers of seals that formed a nigh-invisible web around it.

An exquisite prison, one that few would have been able to get through. Yet he was the one who had created it. Naruto walked inside, placing his hand against the right spot on the floor and made a seal with one hand. The shockwave was almost imperceptible but the effects immense. Slowly at first but quickly accelerating, the rows of seals fell apart one after one, unraveling as the structure holding them together was damaged just enough to make it all come undone.

"Let's pack this thing in and get moving," Sasori said as he came up beside Naruto. "No sense dawdling."

"Indeed," Naruto said, wanting to sigh deeply but remembering to act unconcerned.

"If nothing else, you got that cleared up, did you not?" Sasori asked and Naruto looked up at him. "The Mizukage." the puppeteer clarified after a few seconds. "She wasn't one to trade principles for convenience. Admirable but misguided, and you are clear on where you stand with her."

"I did not think you someone who would seek silver linings so fervently," Naruto said as he stepped deeper into the cave and approached the altar, grabbing one of the ropes hanging off the urn and lifting it up. It was heavy... thanks to the seals used, he did not want to try to carry the urn in a storage seal. Sealing seals inside seals could be a tricky business. Tricky, and nightmarish if a single mistake was made.

"If it stops you moaning, why not?" Sasori asked and Naruto rolled his eyes behind his mask.

"How pre-emptive of you," he all but spat as he slung the urn over his shoulder. "I think we'd best head back to the base and your workshop, your separation anxiety is showing." Sasori only chuckled in response and Naruto couldn't help but smirk slightly under the mask as well. And for good reason. This bickering was familiar to him, almost too familiar. It was Anko all over again, only with an added layer of intellectual stimulation to offset the lack of wild craziness. If only he and Sasori had met at some other time he thought to himself. Some place where they weren't wrapped up in the business of the Akatsuki. Another thing he regretted about all this. How thrilling... he was building up a right treasury of grievances and regrets it seemed. No wonder everyone in the Akatsuki was a headcase.

-xxxxxx-

The day was a usual Konoha day, meaning quite warm, clear sky and a soft wind that blew through the village. A good day for watching clouds Kimiko thought where she lay in the grass of the park, looking up at the clouds high above her, floating around in the sky. She could sorta see why Shikamaru liked doing this all the time. It was peaceful. You could just lie here and just float away, like you were a cloud as well, only lower than the clouds up there and floating around in the sky. That'd be really nice if she could become one she thought. Just float away from everything that bothered her.

As she lay there, however, she found her view blocked by a blob of blackness that it took her a second to identify. It was Konohamaru who was standing leaning over her, his face shadowed enough that she could only make out his mouth and eyes from the position she lay in right now.

"You seem to be real busy," her teammate remarked where he stood, hands in his pockets. Kimiko didn't reply but rather leaned to the side to look at the sky past his head. "Real social too," the young Sarutobi remarked dryly as he sat down beside her, arms resting on his knees as he looked at his teammate. A few seconds of silence could pass between them now, disturbed only by the wind and the distant murmur of the village that surrounded them. It all created a carpet of background noise for Kimiko to rest on: something to turn her back to as she stared up at the clouds high above.

"Okay seriously," Konohamaru told her after a few moments of silence. "Are you going to mope around here all day?" he asked impatiently.

"Maybe..." Kimiko said slowly, her voice lacking all of the usual spunk.

"Then how about you maybe get off your ass and go train or something?" Konohamaru asked. "Isn't that how you usually handle these kinds of things? Train until you can't stand?"

"Dun wanna," Kimiko responded with the same level of apathy as before.

"So what are you going to do then?" Konohamaru asked. "Piss away the rest of the day too?"

"Yeah probably..." Kimiko informed him and Konohamaru gritted his teeth, looking away for a couple of seconds before raising one hand and looking down on it. He slowly flexed his fingers, pursing his lips in deep thought before shrugging.

"Then I know something we can do!" he said loudly, shoving his hand in under her hips to roughly grope her ass. "Wanna get down and dirty here and now eh?!" he continued as Kimiko's eyes widened in shock.

Three seconds later he was lying upside down against the trunk of a shaking tree nearby, a small downpour of leaves coming from above him as he groaned in pain.

"Yeah, you ain't lost it yet..." he said with a choked voice as he looked at Kimiko, who stood upright, eyes wide, teeth bared and breath deep as she glared at him in shock and anger. "So..." he grunted as he rolled off the tree and rolled a shoulder. "Damn that hurt... but you really gonna collapse just like that?" he asked her now, looking up at her. "We found Sakura, your brother's apprentice. We're closer to that prick than we've been for three years now. Isn't this a good thing?"

"Good?!" Kimiko exploded now. "Good that one of my best friends acted like she hated me?! That I pretty much treated her like dirt just because she was a good apprentice and I was a jealous idiot!? That I... that I made her think she only had my brother to rely on... that I drove her to... that I made her defect!" she continued, tears welling up in her eyes as she began to sob again. Turning around, she clenched her teeth and fists both, staring into the ground as she tried to hold back her tears.

When Konohamaru came up behind her and hand-chopped her over the head she was too surprised to act, only looking back at the young man with eyes showing her confusion and anger at everything.

"Hey!" Konohamaru told her now, leaning forward as he held out his hands to the sides. "I've spent most of my life hating my only living relative. I didn't do that because I had the right to as much as that I was a stupid little shit who needed to get my ass kicked. You really think someone going 'gyahahahahahahaaa!' is someone you should rely on for a fair judgement of shit? I don't. So how about this?" he asked. "You stop bawling, come train and when we've got more intel we find Haruno, kick her ass seven ways to Sunday and drag her back here to make her see sense. Deal?" he asked, Kimiko not replying at first. Then, however, she threw herself at Konohamaru, wrapping her arms around him and burying her face in his chest as she began to sob again. Konohamaru stood still, holding his arms up still and looking confused.

"Just comfort me stupid," Kimiko said with a hoarse voice after a while, Konohamaru eventually obliging as he gave her the stiffest hug known to man. For a short while they stood still like that, the young Sarutobi awkwardly hugging his team-mate as she sobbed into his chest, clinging to him like a drowning woman. "Kami-sama you suck at hugs," she said after she had managed to calm down.

"Well gosh and gee princess," Konohamaru rolled his eyes at this. "Guess I bombed that exam. That must be how you caught up with me at all." He said acerbically.

"You're pretty smug considering I'm in prime position to kick you in the balls," Kimiko said as she pushed away, finally smiling as she wiped away the tears on her face.

"That's the thanks I get for getting you to stop bitching is it?" Konohamaru said as he threw up his hands and looked around in mock exasperation. "Fine, forget about me ever getting you out of your funk again."

"Don't lie," Kimiko retorted, "you'll keep making sure I don't intrude on your whiny turf."

"Bitch."

"Asshole."

"Bimbo."

"Emo."

"Am I interrupting something?" A voice called dryly and they both looked to the side to see Sasuke leaning against a nearby tree. Kimiko and Konohamaru looked at each other before shrugging in synchronization.

"Not really, just telling it as it is," Kimiko said, wrapping her arms behind her head. Sasuke didn't reply to this but instead gave them both a strange look before continuing.

"Hokage-sama asked for us to come to his office," he said eventually. "I do not know what it is, but it seemed important."

"What, unlike all the non-important summons?" Konohamaru asked before being slapped over the head by Kimiko.

"Behave," she told him and

Konohamaru groused but did not say anything more.

Sasuke rolled his eyes at the pair. "If you two are quite finished," he asked as the three began to make their way towards the Hokage tower.

-xxxxxx-

Minato Namikaze looked at the letter in his hand, wondering why he did not feel more relieved or indeed happy right now. The message had arrived this morning with a carrier falcon, carrying a seal he hadn't seen for a long time and being marked as a top priority message. What more, the contents put a major concern of his to rest and gave him a new ally in this entire conflict. Yet as it was, the contents of the letter only filled him with a slow, nameless dread and he sighed deeply, leaning back as he stared up at the ceiling.

When the door opened to his office the reflexes which had been honed for decades activated and he looked down again, losing the forlorn look on his face and adopting a visage of calm and security. After all, who would follow a Hokage who looked like a scared whelp? That it was his own daughter who entered along with her two teammates changed nothing.

"You asked for us dad?" Kimiko began and Minato gave her a wry look. "Uhm yeah, Hokage-sama?" she corrected herself and Minato nodded.

"I did," he said, holding up the letter for them to see. "I just received this message from Kirigakure," he told them, noting how he instantly got the full attention of all three of them. "The Mizukage writes that they were hit by the Akatsuki, who managed to seize one of the bijuu and abscond with it. They suffered many casualties trying to stop them and Terumi-dono is asking for our aid. If we can provide medical aid to their wounded she will consider it a show of good faith enough that normalizing relations again will be a possibility."

"Don't they have medic-nins of their own Hokage-sama?" Konohamaru asked. "I know Kiri's a shithole, but it isn't that much of a dump is it?"

"One of the Akatsuki members who struck them was Sasori of the Red Sands," Minato elaborated. "Kiri's medical staff is unable to synthesize an antidote, we are the only ones with that ability."

"Who was the other Akatsuki member?" This question came from Kimiko, who seemed to have snapped out of the funk that had gotten hold of her during the last days. It gladdened Minato to see but at the same time it only made it all the harder to say what he was going to say now.

"Terumi-dono did not specify," he admitted, "But our intel indicates that Sasori works alongside Naruto." The instant the words had left Minato's mouth Kimiko sucked in a sharp breath. He looked to his daughter and saw that whatever calm she had managed to gain was sucked away in an instant. Her eyes were wide and her lips quivered. All of her was like a piano wire all of a sudden, wound to the breaking point. It wasn't she who broke the silence though, it was Sasuke.

"Kiri backed itself into a corner," the young Uchiha said thoughtfully.

"You're doing that thing again," Konohamaru remarked and when Sasuke looked at him, blinking, he sighed. "That thing where you say half of a thing and expect the rest of us to fill in the blanks," Konohamaru said with an acerbic tone to his voice "Would it kill you to actually explain what you're on about?"

"Very well," Sasuke sighed patiently. "Kirigakure cut off all ties with Konoha after Namikaze Naruto's defection. They considered him a friend of the village and from where they stood the blame for Naruto's defection lay with Konoha. Having to choose between Naruto and Konoha, they chose their friend. Now that same friend attacked them and stole one of their bijuu. Their entire reason for declaring against us fell apart."

"Heh... when you put it that way they sound pretty damn arrogant," Konohamaru remarked. "We weren't the ones who broke off the cooperation after all. They were, and now they act like they could possibly deign themselves to forgiving us if we do them a pro bono favor. Wouldn't there be a point to squeezing them a bit here, make them realize who's got all the aces?"

"I'm not going to rub salt in Kiri's wounds just to be spiteful Sarutobi-san," Minato said icily, making Konohamaru flinch slightly. "Besides, there were other issues clouding our relationship at the time of the break. This is the matter of building bridges, not adding insult to injury. Kimiko?" he asked sharply now, looking at his daughter. The girl blinked, eyes focusing back on him now. "Did you hear what I said?"

"Yes Hokage-sama," Kimiko said reluctantly, Minato making a motion for her to continue. "We're not going to Kiri to look for clues, we're going to escort medic nins and we're not going to run off to see what traces we can find of them." She said reluctantly and Minato nodded.

"Exactly," he said. "I'll be honest. You're going because you're my daughter and because you managed to befriend Utakata. Your presence as not just my daughter and our Jinchuuriki but because you three were the Ace Genin."

"So in short we're going there to trot around so Kiri can get their butthurt soothed enough to get their heads out of said asses?" Konohamaru asked dryly, lips pursed in a sarcastic frown. "Eeeh… beats chasing cats." He said with a shrug before his head flew forward and he fell down, faceplanting into the floor. Kimiko and Sasuke both looked back in shock at his sudden fall. They were met by the sight of none other than the head of Konoha's medical division, Senju Tsunade. She was standing with a balled fist held outwards as she looked down at Konohamaru with a wry look on her face.

"You're way too lenient with these brats Minato" she said, folding her arms under her sizeable bosom. "Hope you're prepared to have them whipped into shape when we come back from Kiri. How are you, brat?" she added, turning to Kimiko now and ruffling the girl's hair. Kimiko squealed and recoiled from the woman, flailing a bit but grinning all the same.

"Guh... my head is not a drum you know?!" Konohamaru yelled as he pushed himself up to a sitting position, rubbing his head as he glared up at Tsunade.

"True," the woman remarked as she looked down at him with a wry smirk. "With your whining I was more thinking bagpipe," she informed him before adding a 'bweeee' noise, provoking a snort of laughter from Kimiko and even Sasuke raising his hand to cover his mouth. Minato was busy covering his face with his hand but looked up after a few seconds.

"Abuse of your escorts notwithstanding, are you ready to travel to Kiri Tsunade-san?" he asked his teacher's old teammate, Tsunade looking to him with a calm, confident look.

"I was ready when you were still a gleam in your father's eye, boya" she told her Kage. "And I've got a good idea just what needs to be done. Is the tadpole trio ready to head out? Do I need to blow their noses first?"

"Kami-sama, you violent hag!" Konohamaru burst out now, "Stop acting like you're still more than a has-been hiding from her age and encroaching senility!" he told her loudly before slamming into the wall on the far end of the room. Tsunade, massaging her fist, turned to look at Kimiko and Sasuke with an angelic smile.

"Anyone else needing to get something out of their system?" she asked merrily, the two young aces both shaking their heads quickly.

-xxxxxx-

In the humongous, gloomy chamber the massive statue towered in near complete silence. Near complete, but for the slow, humming sound of chakra coming from the jar standing at the base of the statue. The lid was off and out of it rose a pillar of glowing chakra that was slowly being fed upwards, into the maw of the statue, by the figures standing on the raised fingers.

"Care to mind the balance Hidan?" Naruto's voice, dry and emotionless, said from one of the middle fingers where he was standing. "I'd rather not have this take longer than it needs."

"I'm balancing it just fine, Nerduto!" Hidan snapped at him, "Climb off my ass and focus on your own shit!"

"My 'shit', as you oh-so-eloquently put it, is well enough in order that I can see the imperfections in your contribution easily," Naruto told him pointedly but calmly. "Look down at the flow, notice how it jerks about three meters above the container. It is being fed too fast, too sloppily, and you're slowing the process down, possibly with as much thirteen percent. Is inefficient flailing part of Jashin's creed as well?"

"Jashin's breath Nerduto! Didn't Sasori give you enough cock on this trip? Will you stop nitpicking every last bit of what I'm doing?!"

"I will not," Naruto said, ignoring the remark about Sasori. "I will cram some modicum of knowledge and/or skill – ideally both and in either order – into your thick, sloping skull if I so have to use a crowbar, so shut up and..." he continued before being cut off by the mad death-cultist.

"Uuuuh, fun with leeearning" Hidan drawled with a sing-song voice. "You think you're gonna do anything but make me fall asleep mid-ritual?!"

"I suppose it is the mark of the cretin to be bored by what he understands," Naruto remarked mildly. "His idiocy leaves him gaping in wonder at every single thing he sees, and to understand something, anything, is to lose the only motivation he possesses, namely that of slack-jawed gawking at every strand of grass and every fly he sees." At this, a bark of laughter came from Kisame, who was standing to Hidan's left.

"Boy Naruto-san, aren't you spiteful today?" the swordsman asked with a massive grin, being accompanied in this by Deidara, who was doing his best to cover up his snort despite both hands being busy. "What happened? Your tongue's razor-sharp."

"I expect success in all things," Naruto said, "But can abide abject failure. If one simply was not good enough, then that's that. What I truly despise is only barely managing to squeeze by. Mediocrity leaves a sour taste in my mouth."

"I have to agree," Sasori remarked now as he looked to Zetsu. "We were ambushed in force by Kiri's shinobi. They knew what route we were taking. Did you slip up somewhere Zetsu?"

"Don't blame me," Zetsu retorted. "If anyone tipped their hand it wasn't me. All I could find indicated Kiri was still flailing around." He told them before his voice became deeper, more guttural. "If anything it was that apprentice brat of your colleague who tipped the world off that we were coming."

"Because obviously she was clumsy enough that not just Konoha, but also the village that for the last three years has been in a cold war with Konoha, learned every last piece of our plans," Naruto remarked acerbically. "Certainly that must be the case. It is utterly impossible that our noble spymaster simply failed in his duties."

"Enough," Pein said, cutting the argument down in one instant and making all eyes turn to him. "Your bickering is tiresome. Whether they knew we were coming or not, they failed in stopping us. It served the Akatsuki's purposes and I don't care that it offended your sense of aesthetics" he remarked heavily, eyes looking straight at Naruto.

"Of course, leader-sama," Naruto answered calmly. "Do I have your permission to continue instructing Hidan in order to improve his performance?" He added, glancing at the Jashin-worshipper.

"Do it," Pein ordered. "And Hidan, you will listen to him. I do not abide mediocrity any more than he does."

"Oh for the...!" Hidan began but held his tongue. Not even he was going to truly go up against Pein. "Fine..." he spat eventually, glaring at Naruto with hate-filled eyes.

"Your commitment to self-improvement is an example to all of us, Hidan-senpai," Naruto said mildly, contempt and smugness marinating every word.

"Honestly I'm glad we picked him up just for the sass," Kisame grinned widely.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N: So yeah, we all know this song and dance by now. The updates become more and more irregular, eventually slowing to a crawl and in the end ceasing utterly. Sadly, life and my drive to write have taken a turn down that avenue. As it stands, I won't be able to finish Ouroboros according to the schedule I had planned.

HOWEVER, that does not mean I will leave you with nothing. Having thought long and hard about this, I realize that I can either just stop, or I can at least give you a quicker version of what's to come, a highlight reel if you will. Pacing is gonna go out the window and a whole lot of buildup will be impossible to show, but you'll get an ending. It might not be the grand end we all wanted (and I am so, so sorry for that) but there WILL be an end, no matter what the heck I must do to get it out there. My current plan is aiming to wrap this up within 3-4 chapters (and eventual epilogue). So yeah, here we go again then.

 **Chapter 5**

-xxxxxx-

The waiting was among the worst parts of her current existence. As she sat silently in her master's laboratory, waiting for him to be finished with the ritual that was taking place, Sakura knew that she just had to sit quiet and be patient. At the same time precisely that left her almost queasy with anxiety and worry. Whenever she sat silent her thoughts began to dig into her, forcing themselves into her mind and refusing to leave. She hated it, hated how it made her think of all the things she just wanted to shut out because it hurt too much to think about it.

Shouldn't she be proud of her performance? She had managed to outwit the Kiri ninjas and snatched the key for her master right under their noses, using a technique she'd only recently learned. All that was great, maybe even master would acknowledge it...

But why did it have to be Chojuro?

Of all the shinobi that could have been there, why did Chojuro have to be there? Why did he have to be the one she had controlled like a puppet? He had been so good to her when she was in Kiri, always kind and protective when she felt alone and lost in a strange new place. He'd even tended to her when she was sick from the mutations, made her feel safe and cared for. In the end, she had even ended up having a crush on him, a crush that hadn't quite died even three years down the road.

Yet even as Sakura asked herself that question the answer was clear. She didn't want it to be but she couldn't deny it. It was because Chojuro had carried something for her as well. It was too obvious with the way he'd instantly rushed to her side and forgetting all about the battle as she fell into his arms. She'd ensnared him so effectively because he loved her, because he was too enamored with her to consider the possibility that she'd play him, use his love against her and take him over as a puppet to strike down his kage and steal something they couldn't afford to lose.

She was vile. She knew she only had her master. She knew that she had to stick with him, that he would see her through in the end somehow. Yet the fact remained that she had to do all these awful things. It ground into her very soul and she couldn't – simply couldn't – numb herself to it. There was still something inside of her that wished she didn't have to do this, that made her want to be back in Konoha as an academy student with her friends, that all that happened never had taken place.

How did master do it? How did he stay so impassive despite everything? Had he just never cared, or had the treatment they subjected him to in Konoha truly cut his bonds with the village through and through? Whatever it was, Sakura clung to it now. She was in a terrible place, surrounded by maniacs and murderers, but she had to hold it together. Not for her sake but for her master's sake. Whatever she could do for him, she had to do it. Even as a small part of her was telling her she made no sense, she still clung to it. She'd come this far for him and if she let go now it'd all be for nothing.

So she waited in the darkness, all alone and fighting the doubt that wouldn't go away.

-xxxxxx-

For all the sublime qualities inherent in the process of sealing a bijuu inside the immense statue, Naruto found the ending slightly anticlimactic. The ritual ended, Pein fell silent and eventually departed, leaving the rest of them to stand there looking after him. No words about what they were supposed to do here next, nor any commendations for their performance (though Naruto was not overly surprised by that) or indeed anything. Instead, Naruto and Sasori looked to each other, both of them hiding behind their masks where they stood. Yet even through that, the two could communicate in looks what wasn't said in words.

"As... intellectually stimulating this entire affair has been," Naruto commended after a while, giving a pointed glance in Hidan's direction, "We must be off now as well."

"Hopefully someone else, not very picky about who, can actually get something done in the future." Sasori said with a sarcastic rasp in his voice.

"Until next time," Naruto bid them farewell mildly.

"Preferably far from now," Sasori finished as the two leaped down from the statue's fingers and left the chamber.

"So petty, Sasori-san," Naruto said with the same mild tone in his voice as they marched through the endless, dark corridors with the distant echo of their footsteps and their voices bouncing back at them.

"As amusing as it was to watch you browbeat that death-worshipping Neanderthal, I can only abide him for so long," Sasori said, "Do you realize we are spending twenty four hours in the presence of those dunces? Typically, I would have done away with them after an hour."

"I don't know, I try to approach it as a new specimen," Naruto said. "The same reflex that made me poke dead rats with sticks as a child is what helps me endure those people's presence. How does Hidan not forget how to breathe? How soon will Kakuzu attempt to sexually express his love for money? Little thought-experiments like that."

"I won't comment on the fact that you're associating Kakuzu and sex," Sasori drawled in response. "Some thoughts are too repulsive for me to approach."

"Ah yes, wouldn't want to upset your delicate sensibilities," Naruto said airily, Sasori giving him a glacial glare.

"Good, because if you don't behave you don't get to accompany me to Tanigakure," the puppeteer told him, leaving Naruto to raise an eyebrow behind the mask.

"I shall remain quiet then," he said evenly, not showing how surprised he was at what Sasori just had said. He was not fully informed of precisely why Sasori regularly went to that particular village, but he knew it was one of the more important "private errands" the puppetmaster ran. Until now he had been secretive about it yet now he was inviting Naruto along. This was a not inconsiderable show of trust and Naruto knew well that it was for the best to make an absolute minimum of fuss right now, lest Sasori rescind the offer. Sasori grunted and turned back to the corridor, speaking up again after a few seconds.

"Seems you had a point about the usefulness of playing nice with people, I haven't enjoyed this kind of silence in months," the puppet-master commented after a few seconds.

"That is one victory, at the very least," Naruto remarked airily, unable to contain himself and getting only another small grunt from Sasori. While he wanted to make a remark about the man's constant grunting he could at least hold himself back from that.

"Good for you," Sasori drawled.

"You two are goddamn adorable," a hoarse voice said behind them. Naruto did not even need to look to know that it was Zetsu who had appeared behind them. The spymaster of the Akatsuki was staring at them with his hollow eyes, a wry smirk on his face. Naruto turned around to face him with irritation bubbling up inside of him.

"Always nice to be noticed by one's illustrious senpai," Naruto drawled. "Allow me to breathlessly gush over this for a while."

"What do you want, carrion feeder?" Sasori asked bluntly, glaring at Zetsu.

"Oh, a few things," Zetsu said mildly, "Mainly I wanted to congratulate you on a job well done. And also... did you pitch a semi when your old lover showed up?" The man-plant hybrid's voice turned lewd and he leaned in a little. "She's quite the looker I'll admit," he leered, "I can only imagine how she'd taste. Maybe you could give me a hint?"

"Aaand we're taking a sample," Naruto said calmly, suppressing the part of him that was incensed by Zetsu's provocations, as he tore out some strands of hair from Zetsu's head. "Really, if you're going to attempt to get a rise out of me, you should keep a decent distance. Still, thanks for the DNA, I'm sure I can do many an interesting thing with this," he continued as he placed the sample into a small test tube. "Shall we, Sasori-san?" he asked, giving Zetsu no time to continue before they both turned around and left him. Zetsu's little spiteful tantrum about being questioned was an irritation, nothing else.

"Sure, sure, walk away from the man giving you a mission from Pein-sama," Zetsu said behind him and Naruto stopped in his tracks. Damn it, was that madman giving him no rest?

"And making puerile comments in the manner of a fourteen-year-old was obviously more important," he said acerbically as he turned to look back at the man. "But sure, let is hear it," he said, folding his arms.

"You're going to prison, professor," Zetsu grinned. "Hozuki castle more specifically."

"Delightful," Naruto said, feeling a small chill run down his spine. Hozuki castle was infamous for a reason. Once you entered you never left unless the village wanted you back. Hozuki castle was, in a way, one of the constants in the shinobi world. "Care to elaborate on why or is your ability to convey information as pitiable as your ability to gather it?" he asked.

"Maybe we should shove him into a pot somewhere," Sasori offered. "Plants tend to be stressed out by being moved around."

"Or at least water him," Naruto agreed. "I believe I have some things we could use as fertilizer."

"And prune him," Sasori added as he waved the razor-sharp stinger of his tail back and forth a little.

"Fuck me with your little two-inch dicks you are SO funny," Zetsu drawled. "Anyway..."

"Apologies Zetsu-san, I do not swing that way." Naruto cut him off with a mild voice. It was an infantile remark but he made it anyway.

"What 'way' would you even be swinging if you wanted to fornicate with plants?" Sasori asked, taking the ball and running with it.

"I think the term would be Dendrophilia in the case of trees," Naruto mused. "As for other plants, I don't know if there is an actual term for it. Let us call is Zetsuphilia for the time being.

"A great leap forward for the science of perverts and deviants," Sasori smirked.

"Are you two finished?" Zetsu asked patiently, glaring at them. "Hozuki Castle. Break into it. Let the inmates out. The Elemental Villages are closing ranks and Pein-sama wants as much chaos as we can give him. The greatest prison break in history should do the trick. Feel free to get to it anytime soon."

"Are you well versed in the language of flowers, Sasori-san?" Naruto continued now for the heck of it, folding his arms and placing one hand under his chin. "I think this arrangement is trying to convey a message, but I'm not sure what the meaning is."

"Just piss off, will you?" Zetsu asked as he stepped backwards, fading into the wall and leaving them behind.

"There really is a certain satisfaction in being obnoxiously low-brow, is there not?" Naruto asked, genuinely smiling under his mask.

"I'm not sure the loss of dignity is worth it," Sasori said dryly as his tail retreated in under his cloak again. "But you are correct, there is."

"Now to find some way to arrange the greatest prison break in history," Naruto wrapped up with a dry voice. "What do we know?" he began, looking to his companion as he thought about it. "Hozuki Castle. Run by the Hidden Grass. Touted as the ultimate prison. Final destination for loose cannons and psychopaths as well as those without the stomach to do their duty. Makes use of seals to control the prison population." He listed off calmly as he and Sasori began to walk down the hallway again.

"A vast amount of information to be sure," Sasori said sarcastically. "We need more."

"A very perceptive conclusion Sasori-senpai," Naruto fired back with equal sarcasm. "Did you have any ideas or am I doing the heavy lifting as usual?"

"Former prisoners," Sasori said evenly as they entered Naruto's laboratory. "It begins and ends with those seals they use. The kind of people imprisoned there won't be stopped by just some guards. If the seals are removed they'll break out."

"A standardized seal, most probably," Naruto said, walking up to a blackboard there and beginning to take notes. "Three options. One: the one who places the seal on them is the conduit, kill him and his seals fade with him. Two: the seals are self-contained and we'd have to remove them one by one. Three: some kind of artefact to sustain the seals without the seal-user's presence. The first option would be the most simplest but potentially the most troublesome. If the seal-user is a high-level shinobi surrounded by bodyguards we will have a pitched battle on our hands; one I'd prefer to avoid. Second option would take longer time but could potentially be easier as long as we stayed hidden. Third… whatever artefact is used would be under heavy guard and/or hidden. I dislike treasure hunts." He muttered as he and Sasori began to speculate about what awaited and what possible options they had in either case. After a while Naruto looked around, realizing Sakura was nowhere to be seen. "Vexing… I told her to wait here." He sighed, inwardly becoming all the more worried. Chojuro had been there during the fight and Naruto hadn't forgotten the bond that had developed between the young swordsman and his apprentice. Sakura had exploited that brilliantly, but now, when it all was over… he himself had been bitter and regretful after clashing with Mei, yet Sakura had been forced to make Chojuro her puppet.

"Go find her, I'll prepare for the journey," Sasori told him and Naruto nodded. Steadily, Sasori was being more and more helpful these days. That was a good thing, admittedly, but right now he had other concerns. Stepping out into the corridors, he began stalking them to find his apprentice. This was the last place in the world where he wanted to be unaware of her location. Nearly every last one of his vile "colleagues" would be problematic for Sakura to deal with. If it wasn't the possibility of outright violence, they'd most likely try to screw with her head or maybe even sexually assault her. These vermin had no limits.

It was first after a good while that he managed to find her. As it turned out, she had walked out of the building and was standing on one of the roof terraces. Stopping in the doorway, Naruto took a moment to watch her, hoping to at least somewhat gauge her mental state from how she was acting when she thought no one was around. She was not pacing around or crying, which was at least something (and the absurdity of his situation became clear once again when THAT was the baseline). What she was doing, however, was training.

Standing in the pouring rain, Sakura was surrounded by a series of clones transformed into various other shinobi and as they launched themselves at her, she used every last bit of her skill to avoid and defeat them. Naruto silently watched as his apprentice demonstrated the full range of her agility, speed and precision. She was dodging two of her attackers using the faintest of moves, each strike passing her by only a hair's with from her clothing. Snaking her arm around one of her attacker's, she sent him flying into the air with a graceful, powerful twist as she ducked under another blow and swept the new attacker's legs from under him before kicking him in the gut hard enough to dispel him. Naruto realized she most likely had summoned more clones than the six currently attacking her and he decided to just enjoy the scene.

Her face was impassive, focused, and she moved with the grace of a master. Naruto silently concluded she was brilliant: probably even Jonin material. He was thinking it a lot these days he admitted to himself. Sakura really was too good for her own good. Was there anything he could throw at her where she simply would fail? If she hadn't been so able against Kimiko she would have been captured and brought out of here. If she hadn't been so canny and ruthless she would have been able to use Chojuro against Mei. But she had. This jewel of his would not leave his side, would not fail him even as he silently begged that it would before it got shattered. As Sakura went through a series of acrobatic leaps and bounds that had her in essence running circled around her remaining opponents he sighed to himself. What could she have become had she remained in Konoha? Some students slogged through their development, each improvement hard-earned, yet Sakura soared, exceeding his expectations again and again.

As Sakura came to a stop she panted slightly, having only moderately exerted herself. It was only a second, however, before she looked up and spun to face him, eyes wide.

"M-master." Her voice quivered as she bowed deeply before him. In an instant all her confidence vanished and she seemed like a trembling waif before him. Naruto was so dismayed by the sight that he for a moment entertained the thought of walking up to her and tell her just how brilliant she was. The naked worry and uncertainty in her eyes cut into his very soul. She who could do so much was still so weakened, so hurt, by this damnable distance he had committed to keeping for her sake. She seemed so ragged, so terrified, by his sudden appearance.

He couldn't, however. If he told her how brilliant she was he wouldn't be able to stop. If he let it all out he couldn't imagine her remaining calm and such a naked display of emotions and relief would be like the smell of rotten meat to the carrion-feeders they were surrounded by.

"A satisfactory performance," he therefore said evenly. Satisfactory… suddenly he hated that word. "I told you, however, to wait in my laboratory. We have work to do." He wasn't going to dwell on an oversight he in truth wanted to just ignore. The look on Sakura's face told him that even that little comment had an effect. "Come with me," he told her, beginning to walk down the hallway when she came up to him. She walked in silence and Naruto tried to think of something to say. He had been mostly silent with her for three years. Could he not think of something? Anything?

No. Nothing he could say at the very least. Not when the walls had ears. He hated is so much but knew that if Pein caught wind of how much Sakura actually meant to him she was most likely dead and that dog of Pein's, Zetsu, could be anywhere. Then again… Naruto got an idea, a crazy idea which could go wrong in many a way, but an idea nonetheless. He knew that he had the method, but what would the message be? What could he even say? Another project he supposed, but it was one he would have to do. No more delaying on Sakura. His delays had caused her too much grief as it was. He looked to her for a second, half-opening his mouth before he decided to take a measured risk.

"Don't look so skittish," he told her. "Your impressive performance in Water Country gives you leeway enough that I'll overlook this and more, but I would advise against trying your luck…" he spoke disinterestedly. The flash of relief that went over Sakura's face was brief but intensive, forcing Naruto to look away. Had he starved her of trust so much that she became so happy for so little? He was a vile man, necessity or not…

-xxxxxx-

Sakura trembled inwardly still but now it wasn't from fear, but rather happiness. Her "impressive" performance in Water Country "gave her leeway". That meant master acknowledged her success… she actually had triumphed now, she had managed to do it and not even master could find any flaws in what she had done! She, she actually meant something, she was someone! It was… it was pathetic… she was like a dog, licking up breadcrumbs of approval. It was her breadcrumbs, however, and it was all she had.

Glancing up at her master, she wondered how he looked behind that mask. It was almost as if the master she knew from Konoha was gone, replaced by a featureless, emotionless mask. Did he look as disinterested as he sounded? She clung mentally to the word "impressive". That was a good thing, no matter how you looked at it. She had earned his approval and in the world where she was it was all she could hope for. She was improving, she was becoming better, more worthy, and as long as she could do that she had a place left. Even Master Sasori had acknowledged her in the end, hadn't he? That's why he taught her. Maybe… maybe in the end even Pein and the others would acknowledge her? She couldn't have her home or her friends back, but respect was something at least.

Entering the lab, Sakura silently stepped to the side to give her master room but did not escape Sasori's glance. The puppetmaster locked his gaze onto her and Sakura forced herself to calm down, meeting the gaze steadily. Master Sasori… when had he become her master, she wondered. She didn't know but Master had given his approval early on, saying it was foolish to turn away skillful teaching, no matter the source. Sakura silently wished that Master was as quick to give feedback as Master Sasori. Sakura had never doubted where she stood with the puppeteer: instead always getting instant feedback. But then again, master was the one who had made her what she was.

"Girl," Master Sasori said, pointing at the blackboard. "Tell us what you see." Sakura looked to the blackboard, her brow furrowing as she poured over the notes there, all written in Master's quick, crisp hand, detailing the three possibilities for the construction of a seal. It was all speculation, guesswork, really, and Sakura told them that. The fact that Master Sasori began to chuckle when she was done and Master didn't move a muscle made a stab of fear shoot through her heart again. When Master spoke up it was not to berate her, however.

"There's something to her interpretation." Master said dryly, "We are wasting time debating what we must study. The question is where we find samples."

"I told you, former prisoners." Master Sasori's voice was equally dry, "My contact in Tani might have former inmates. We can check in with him."

"An actual plan, how astounding," Master said mildly. Sakura never knew what to do in times like these. The passive-aggressive ribbing that came now could be traded for in-depth debating in a heartbeat which, moments later, turned back into sniping at each other. She therefore fell back into the shadows where she belonged.


End file.
